A Family That Fights Together, Stays Together
by Momobear9898
Summary: "Hello, little turtle." Fear bubbled in his stomach when the man gave him a devious smirk. He attempted to wiggle his way out of the bounds, but found it futile. The man smiled and curled his hand into a fist, promptly striking the turtle. "Now tell me what your name is?" Spitting out a clop of blood, he glared at the man. "Michelangelo. My name is Michelangelo."
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, I finally got back into writing. I took a year or two hiatus because, let me tell you, writer's block sucks. I had all these ideas, but I didn't know how to express them. It feels great to come back. Anyway, thanks for reading! Oh yeah, this is set in the 2003 version. This was originally going to be a story on the seven or five stages of grief, but I decided it would be way too depressing. **

The lair was quiet, which was odd for the occupants who lived there. The eldest, Leonardo, was on edge. He was worried about his youngest brother, who had been out longer than his curfew. Michelangelo was known to lose track of time if he was doing something he loved to do, but that doesn't excuse him for disobeying Master Splinter's orders. For the fifth time, he glanced at the clock that hung over the lair entrance. Only three minutes have passed since he last checked. Leonardo nervously rubbed his hands together and licked his beak.

"Have you heard any news so far?" Leonardo turned to see his second youngest brother, Donatello, leaning heavily against his bo staff while balancing a steaming cup of coffee in his hand

"You know you are not supposed to be up." Leonardo glanced up at the clock again. "Donnie, it's a quarter til two. You need your rest." Donatello sent a mock glare at his older brother. He thought this would happen. Donnie switched the coffee mug between hands to wave off his brother.

"Says the hypocrite. Leo, you out of all of us should be asleep." He knew his brother had been up with Master Splinter last night talking about Leo taking a trip to Japan to visit the Ancient One again.

"But that was different. I was consulting Master Splinter about how I could further my leadership skills. You were working on fixing the lair's security all last night. You need to rest." Donatello rolled his eyes. If his older brother was going to be up, he was going to stay with him.

"Cut it out Leo. He's my brother too." Leo snapped his eyes at Donnie. Was it that noticeable?

"Was it that noticeable?" Leo asked, voicing his thoughts. Donnie nodded his head with a small smile on his face. He moved over to his eldest brother and handed him the cup of coffee he had been nursing.

"It wasn't that hard to tell. If you look close enough, you can see the smoke coming from the floor because the friction you caused from pacing." Leo let out a small chuckle and took a sip of the coffee.

"Bleh, I hate this stuff," Leo said handing the bitter drink back to his brother. "How do you drink so much of this?" Donnie laughed and took the drink back from his brother. Once back in his hands, he took a long sip much to the abhorrence of Leonardo.

"You don't necessarily taste the coffee once it has been diluted by the sugar and creamer. Which reminds me, when Mikey gets back, I'll need him to go to the surface and grab me some more," Donatello said moving away from his brother to return to his lab.

"He wouldn't need to get some more if you didn't use so much of it!" Leo called after his genius brother with a smile on his face. He heard Donnie grumble something about "not understanding" before the lab doors shut. Once Donnie had returned to the lab, the worry had returned and Leo's pacing game resumed.

"_This is getting me know where," _Leo thought. He took out his shell cell and called April. He knew the red head would pick up even at this hour.

"_Hello?" _She sounded out of breathe.

"Hey April, is this a bad time?" He heard the sound of the bed creak and the slam of a door. Leo heard somebody on the other side talking to April and he smiled knowingly. "So I guess this _**is**_ a bad time."

"_No, no. It's not what you think Leo!" _Despite the tension he was feeling, he let out a laugh.

"Of course it isn't. Anyway, I wanted to know if Mikey has come by at all tonight."

"_Yeah, he stopped by a couple hours ago to help me make dinner for Casey and me then he left. Is something wrong?" _ Leo felt a cold sweat break out on his neck. He knew that the street gangs had become bolder lately and if Mikey had left April's a couple hours ago…

"He hasn't come home yet. I have to go." He hung up before the red head could respond. He briskly walked over to Donnie's lab door and immediately started knocking on the door.

"Jeez Leo. Give a turtle a minute," Donnie said opening the door. Leo sent an apologetic look to his brother, but his face hardened after.

"I need you to track Mikey's shell cell signal." Donnie sent a questionable look at his brother, but he noticed the expression on his face and immediately got to work. He speedily walked to his computer and typed in a couple numbers.

"What do you know?" Donnie hadn't taken his eyes to respond to his brother.

"April said that Mikey left her house a couple hours ago," Leo said. Donnie lips tightened as his fingers flew across the keyboard. Leo would have been impressed with his brother's brisk finger movements if the situation hadn't been dire.

"Okay, I have a lock. The signal is coming from on top of the ninety nine cent pizza shop. Last time moved was," Donnie's eyes widened and he immediately grabbed his duffel bag and his bo.

"Donnie what's wrong?" Leo was beginning to panic. He had never seen his brother so panicked since Donnie was usually calm and collected.

"The last time his shell cell was moved was about an hour ago. Knowing Mikey, he can't stay stationary for more than ten minutes. Put the pieces together Leo. Something's wrong." Leo didn't take a minute before he darted out of the lab and to Raphael's room. He jumped on the wall and he used the momentum to spring himself over the railing. He landed perfectly on his feet and ran to his brother's room. Once he entered, he fumbled with the light switch.

"Raph!" Raph didn't even budge. At this time, Leo wished he wasn't a heavy sleeper. Leo stormed over to his brother and started to shake him. "Raph! Wake up!" A fist shot out and Leo grabbed it before it made contact with his beak. He maneuvered the fist out of his eyesight and was met with two hazel eyes glaring at him.

"What do you 'ant Fearless? You betta have a damn good reason for 'wakin me up," Raphael grumbled while placing his pillow over his face. Leo snatched the pillow off of his face and ignored the murderous look his brother sent him.

"Raph, I need you to grab your sais and your belt. Mikey hasn't come home yet and Donnie traced his shell cell to that pizza place Mikey loves," Leo said while handing Raph's pads to him. When Raph heard Mikey, he immediately started to move. He grabbed the sais off of the table and placed his pads on his elbows and knees.

"Do you 'tink he's okay?" Leo stared at him; Raph nodded and ran out of his room. He jumped over the railing while Leo followed. Donnie was standing at the doorway already with a machine which was producing a low beep. Leonardo grabbed his katanas and met up with Donnie.

"This machine will help me locate Mikey's shell cell signature. As the beeping speeds up, the closer we are to his shell cell." Raph soon joined and immediately crossed his arms over his chest. His muscles were twitching with anticipation.

"What are we waitin' for? Let's go find da knucklehead!" Raph ran ahead. Donnie and Leo looked at each other before darting after their brother.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"How's the signal coming along, Donnie?" Leo said. Donatello glanced down at his machine and grumbled.

"We should be getting close. The machine's beeping is becoming louder." Throughout the dead sprint the brothers were doing, Raphael remained quiet. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was worried for his baby brother.

In the distance, they saw the white sign that proudly exclaimed $0.99 cent pizza. The brothers slowed to a jog as Donnie moved ahead to scope out the area. The machine was now beeping very loudly. Donnie crept forward quietly, wary of any danger that would spring out. Leo and Raph followed, taking out their weapons as they got closer to the dumpster. Donnie put his machine in his bag while he jumped in the dumpster. He took the machine back out and started digging.

"G-guys," Donnie called. The brothers sheathed their weapons and jumped in the trash heap. What they saw made their hearts sink. In Donnie's hand was Mikey's shell cell cracked and speckled with blood. Raph growled and punched the dumpster. Donnie felt his hands shake and he dropped into the junk. Leo could only stare and he tried to get his thoughts together. He was the leader and he couldn't let things get out of hand. He needed to focus.

Leo took the shell cell out of Donnie's hand and squinted.

"Donnie, do you think you can tell if this is Mikey's blood?" Donnie took a shaky breath and nodded his head slowly.

"I would have to take it back to the lair to run a DNA test along with the samples I have on hand." Leo nodded his head and sheathed his katanas.

"Okay, let's head back to the lair. Do-,"

"What?!" Leo turned to Raph who had a deep glare settled on his face.

"We can't just jump to conclusions that this is Mikey's blood. When we go back to the lab, Donnie can differentiate if this is Mikey's blood or not." Raph shook his head angrily.

"Bullshit! The time we waste at the lab is time against Mikey; he could be lying out there_**, bleeding out**_." Leo felt obligated to scold Raphael of his swearing, but decided not to.

"Well were not going to get anywhere if we don't know whose blood it is. For all we know, Mikey could've kicked the guy's butt and this is his blood," Leo responded his voice slightly rising, gesturing to the phone. Raph threw his hands up in the air. Donnie knew to take a weary step back. When Leo's voice starts to rise, a full blown fight was soon to begin.

"That's your plan?" Raph said with a snide scoff.

"It's better than arguing here as we waste more time!"

"Why doesn't Donnie just go and we continue to search?" Leo shook his head.

"No, we all go together."

"Why? Donnie can make it back okay."

"We need Donnie for whatever step we make next."

"Leo?' The older brothers turned to stare at their younger brother. Donnie wasn't making eye contact. Instead, he was taking the battery out of Mikey's shell cell and was studying it.

"Let me go back to the lair to figure out the blood. I'm with Raph on this. We all don't need to hustle back to the lab. I can probably get this done in ten minutes tops. I'll call as soon as I find out the results. You guys continue to look for Mikey," Donnie said placing the shell cell in a plastic bag and depositing it in his duffel bag. Both eyes were on Leo now. Leo didn't like the idea of his younger brother going around without someone tagging along.

"Okay. But take Raph with you. I'll call Casey and have him come with me." Raph looked like he was going to argue, but he shook his head and started walking away with Donnie.

"Hey Leo!" Leo turned to see Raph with a tight expression on his face.

"Be careful. When we come back, I want to only have to find just Mikey, not you too." Leo nodded and jumped to grab the metal staircase. He pulled himself up and continued onto the rooftops.

IIIIIIIII

A light was shined in his eyes, followed by a loud slap; the sound of flesh meeting flesh. A sharp pain was registered on his cheek. Slowly, he opened his eyes, but immediately shut them, the light bothering his sensitive corneas.

"Hey wake up!" The sound was accompanied by pain again. He groaned and peeled open his eyes. His vision swam and he was tempted to upchuck, but held it down. His vision began to clear and he finally got a glance around the room. The room was dull with various chains and lights hanging. Rust was evident on the walls and a small hole in the wall was accompanied by a drop of water which dripped every so often.

He groaned again and tried to rub his hand on his face, but found he couldn't. He ignored the pounding of his head, looking down at his lower half. He was tied to what looked like a wooden chair; his wrists and ankles were bound to the legs. Blue and purple bruises littered his thighs and by the looks of it his right leg was broken. He whined in annoyance.

"Hello, little turtle." In front of him was a man in a tailored suit with a cool smile on his face, but that only made him nervous. He attempted to wiggle his way out of the bounds, but found it futile.

"I see you would like to escape, little turtle." The man let out a sardonic chuckle. "When my boys mentioned you were a turtle, I didn't think they were serious!"

He sent out a glare at the man.

"Now don't be like that. My boys inform me that there are more creatures like you. That means that the other ones will come for you. That might take a while, so I find this could be a good time to become acquainted with each other. My name is Jasper Albeit. Now, what's your name?"

He was tempted to scoff at the man and throw out a corny joke, but settled with an eye roll. Jasper let a small frown grace his features and strode closer to the turtle. He smirked and curled his hand into a fist, promptly striking him.

"Now, let's try this again. What is your name?"

Spitting out a clop of blood, he slowly turned to stare at the man, hatred burning in his eyes.

"Michelangelo. My name is Michelangelo."

IIIIIIII

"Okay, go to my drawer and grab the key with the MHO imprinted on it. The refrigerator in the back is the one you want. Last drawer." Raphael wasted no time in grabbing the key out of Donnie's desk and rushing over to the fridge. He inserted the key and was immediately shocked at the numerous files and cases.

"Donnie, you gotta be more specific!" Raph called over to his genius brother. Donnie was busy fiddling with his computer; he appeared to have not heard him. Raph rolled his eyes and started fumbling through the fridge.

"Be sure not to mix any of those samples. They were collected over the years," Donnie said without lifting his head from the computer.

"_Oh now he hears me," _Raph thought. He continued his search until he found a container labeled "blood sample-16." Raphael briefly wondered why his brother kept so many samples of blood on hand, but decided he didn't want to know the answer. He grabbed the container and brought it over to Donnie.

"Is dis what you wanted?" Donnie glanced and nodded. He took Mikey's shell cell out of the plastic bag and set it on the table. Raph visibly tensed at the sight of the blood. Donnie walked over to one of the tables and grabbed a metal scraper out of a new plastic bag.

"Okay, now I need you to hand me one of those petri dishes," Donnie said. Raph grabbed one of the dishes and slid it over to Donnie.

"Now, what is this going to do?" Donnie scraped the dried blood into the petri dish.

"I'm going to put this in the machine and test if the plasma and white blood cell count match up with the plasma and white blood cells of Mikey's last known blood samples. Also, the platelet count that was last recorded. The machine will show the results on the screen." Donnie opened the container and took the vial of blood. He got an eye dropper out of the drawer and quickly sucked some of the blood out of the vial. He dripped the blood into another petri dish and closed the vial.

"Now Raph, I need you to put these into that machine. When placed, push the button on the side and the machine will began to analyze the blood. This should take about five minutes or so, given that the machinery I have is pretty dated. The machine will beep when finished." Raph nodded and grabbed both dishes and placed them in the machine and followed Donnie's instructions. The machine began to vibrate quietly.

"My sons, why are you still up?" Both brothers turned to see Master Splinter standing in the doorway with a mixture of confusion and anger. The brothers looked at each other and sighed. Raph, being the oldest at the moment, moved forward to the rat, contemplating how he would go about his next words.

"Master Splinter, Mikey has not come home yet. Leo, Don, and I went out to search for 'im. We found his shell cell and Don is analyzing the blood on da phone to see if it matches the one he has here." Master Splinter's faced flashed to worry and he let out a soft sigh.

"Where is Leonardo now?"

"Leo stayed to continue his search. He called Casey to tag along with him to help." Master Splinter nodded his head and he walked away.

"My sons, please bring your brother home safely. I will be in the dojo meditating," Master Splinter said walking off, his cane exploding in the tense silence.

"Raph, can you do me a favor?" Raph glanced at his brother before taking out his sai to examine it.

"What is it?" Donnie sighed and started putting away Mikey's blood samples.

"I need you to go and get Leatherhead." Raph looked at Donnie incredulously.

"Don is dat such a good idea? I like Leatherhead and all, but-,"

"Yeah. I know what you're talking about. The last thing we need is Leatherhead to Hulk out on us. The thing is Leatherhead has shown that he has very useful tracking skills. Those skills could help us place a location on Mikey."

"What if he does Hulk out? Mikey was basically the only one who coulda stopped 'im."

"I guess we'll just have to risk it then." Raph stared at his brother. Donnie began to question if Raph would actually follow his order to get the temperamental alligator. Even as he told Raph to retrieve him, he began to doubt himself. Leatherhead is basically a part of the family, but Donnie didn't know how the alligator would react if he found out that Mikey is missing.

"Okay, I'll go. Give me ten minutes." Raph said before taking off out of the lab and in search of Leatherhead. Silence filled the lair. Donnie moved to place the blood samples back in the fridge. After the task was done, he placed the key back in the drawer with the other keys. Once the key was back in place, the machine started beeping. Donnie speedily walked over to the computer to see it processing the information. The machine let out a final louder beep before displaying the results. Donnie quickly skimmed over the DNA structures and onto the results residing at the bottom of the page. His heart sank when he read in big bold letters "MATCH" at the bottom. He took a calming breathe and rubbed his hands along his face. Suddenly, the machine started beeping again and Donnie quickly looked up to see the machine processing more results. Donnie waited impatiently for the machine to finish. Finally, a loud beep filled the tense air and his eyes widened at what the machine displayed.

IIIIIII

"_You need me to what?" _Leo sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. He knew it was a bad idea to get Casey.

"I need you to meet me on the roof top on the ninety nine cent pizza shop," Leo said.

"_Leo, you do know it's like three in the morning."_

"I'm aware, but it's important."

"_This isn't like some kind of joke you guys are pulling on me? Like what Mikey did to me last week?" _

"That's why I called. I need help with Mikey."

"_Did the knucklehead get himself in trouble with Raph?"_

"No. He hasn't come home. He's missing." Casey took in a sharp intake of breath.

"_What do you mean? He went home afta he left the house."_

"He didn't return home."

"_Well, why didn't you say so? I'll be right there!" _

The line went dead and Leo placed the phone back in his belt pocket. He stood up and jumped off of the rooftop to the next building. He stood on the edge and peered at the city below him. The wind caught the end of his mask and he narrowed his eyes.

"Where are you Mikey?"

IIIIIII

Mikey breathed heavily as he struggled to breathe. He looked down as his abdomen and saw a few of his ribs poking out.

"Great. Broken ribs are not what I need right now." Mikey craned his neck and a sharp pain shot through his back and abdomen. He grimaced and he immediately went back to staring at the rusting wall in front of him. "If I don't get out of here sooner, I'm probably going to start talking to myself." The door to Mikey's holding cell opened and he immediately clamped his mouth.

"_Okay Mikey. You have to act serious. No goofing off," _Mikey thought. Jasper walked in with two of his men. Mikey immediately widened his eyes at the sight of the two brawny men, smiling cruelly at the young turtle. He recognized one of them immediately.

"You're the jerk who captured me," Mikey said. The brawny man glared and took a step forward, but stopped when Jasper raised his hand.

"Now, let's not be hasty. We are all friends here!"

"But boss-," Jasper turned his glare towards the man and he immediately got silent. The glare melted off Jasper's face as he turned to face Michelangelo.

"Hello Michelangelo! Good to see you again. Oh, what happened here?" Jasper got closer to the turtle to see the blue bruises on the turtles face and the ribs poking at his skin painfully. "I see my boys got a little…overzealous." Mikey sent a glare at the man.

"Hey boss. Check out his eyes." Jasper peered into Mikey's eyes, reaching a hand out to touch his face, resulting in Mikey jerking away from the man.

"Wow, is the whole whiting over of your irises something normal in your family? Well, actually, are you guys a family? I mean, are the other turtles your brothers or something?" Mikey remained quiet and his glare deepened. Suddenly, his head was jerked back and Mikey let out a cry of pain as he felt his ribs twist uncomfortably. The goon that had spoken before pulled Mikey's mask tails.

"Answer the boss when he speaks to you."

"Now, we don't want to be mean to our house guest?" Jasper studied Mikey as if he were a new toy, which made him squirm in his bonds. "Now would you be so kind as to answer my questions?"

"Yes, it is normal in my family and yes we are all brothers." Jasper looked delighted to see Mikey cooperating. Mikey was shocked at the hoarseness of his voice; it sounded like he hadn't drunken water in a while.

"Excellent. Now, how many are there of you?" Mikey felt relieved when the goon had released his mask.

"There are four of us."

"And what number are you?"

"Number?"

"Yes, are you the eldest or the youngest?"

"I-I'm the youngest." Jasper clapped his hands together in glee.

"Ah, so you are the baby of the family. I thought as much. Those baby blues of yours tell a lot about you. So innocent. How old are you?"

"Dude, why does my age matter?" Mikey smelt the goon before he heard him.

Leaning close to Mikey's ear, he whispered in a low dangerous tone, "Didn't I say to answer the boss's questions? I don't think you want us to get violent." The goon jabbed his thumb into Mikey's plastron and Mikey let out another cry of pain, tears springing to his eyes.

"_Don't cry Mikey. Leo wouldn't, Raph wouldn't, and neither would Donnie." _

"I-I'm fifteen." Jasper widened his eyes slightly and let out a low whistle.

"You are young, barely a teenager. It's okay Michelangelo. We'll take very good care of you until your brothers arrive." Jasper stood up straight walking out of the room with one of the goons following. The other goon stood back for a second to stare a Mikey.

"You better watch yourself freak. Next time you don't answer the boss, you won't be so lucky." Mikey sent him a 'are you serious' look. The last thing Mikey could remember was the goon's face shriveling into a look of anger and his fist before all went black.

IIIIIIII

"So the blood sample is not only Michelangelo's but another man?" Leatherhead was leaning against the wall, a look of seriousness radiated off his rough stature. Raphael was nursing an ice pack on his arm. He had stumbled across Leatherhead during one of his nightmares. Thankfully, the wall had taken most of the damage.

"Yes, so Mikey managed to get a good hit out on the guy," Donnie said. "This actually helps us out a ton." Raph sent a questionable look towards his genius brother. Leatherhead and Donnie were staring at each other with determination on their features.

"Right. Wait, what do ya mean that it can help us?" Leatherhead seemed confused too. Donnie stared at Raphael for a second before walking over to his computer.

"You know the basics about blood. It has your DNA structure in it." Recognition dawned on Leatherhead's features.

"Yeah…," Raph said slowly.

"Well, think about it this way. The man that attacked Mikey most likely has some kind record since you usually don't attack a giant, mutant turtle without having some kind of motif behind it. So I think that he was part of one of the gangs. More specifically the Purple Dragons."

"How do you know that Donnie?" Donnie gestured over to a machine that was vibrating slightly.

"I ran it though the analyzer to see if I can find any particulates in the blood that can give off a location." The machine beeped and the computer started loading. A few seconds later, a plant popped up and several different charts. Leatherhead pushed himself off the wall and started reading over the results. Donnie joined him a second later, while Raph looked questioningly between the two geniuses. Relief seemed to wash through Donnie's face.

"You want to tell me what's goin' on?" Raph said. Donnie turned to the analyzer and started tinkering with the buttons on it. He machine gave off a whirling noise before the machine started vibrating again.

"The machine picked up traces of this,"-Donnie gestured to the plant on the computer, "plant. It's a specific type of aquatic plant that can only be found growing on very wet places. Also, the Purple Dragons base of operation resides by the docks."

"How does that help? That can be anywhere!" Raph began to feel the familiar rush of anger settle over him. Leatherhead stepped forward, his expression radiating tranquil.

"What Donatello means is that this plant can only grow in copious amounts of pollution, but also in a freshwater setting. What place in the New York area has copious amounts of pollen and has freshwater?" Raph eyes widened comically as the answer dawned on him.

"The Hudson? That means that they are keeping Mikey by the docks?" The machine beeped again and started feeding data to the computer. Once downloaded, a picture of a man popped up along with several spreadsheets.

"Correct. The problem is that there are a lot of docks around the Hudson. So that's why I thought it would be okay to pay our blood donor a visit," Leatherhead said. Raph and Donnie turned to the crocodile with confusion radiating off their features.

"You want us to make contact with him? Are ya crazy?" Raph said. Donnie threw a glare at Raph. Angering the nine foot tall crocodile didn't seem like such a great idea at the moment.

"Considering that _Michelangelo's _blood was mixed with this man's, it's pretty safe to say that he is already aware of our existence. Besides, he may be the only one that can give us the location of Michelangelo's," Leatherhead said.

"And what if he doesn't cooperate?" Donnie said. Raph smirked and twirled his sai in his hand.

"Then I guess we'll just have to be _persuasive."_

IIIIIIII

"What do yous guys know?" Casey and Leo were jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search for any traces of Mikey.

"No much. Donnie found blood on Mikey's damaged shell cell. He and Raph went back to the lair to analyze it," Leo said. Casey nodded and sped up a little. Leo followed, quickly out speeding the man. It had been close to half an hour when Raph and Donnie left. Leo was beginning to worry about them; Donnie had said ten minutes. He could feel the familiar sticky sense of worry bubble in his stomach. The only thing stopping him from calling Donnie was because Raph was with him and he knew when it comes to protecting the younger siblings, Raph turned menacing, especially if Mikey was involved. It made Leo wonder how Raph was as calm as he is now. Usually, he would be on the verge of a rampage like when Bishop had strapped Mikey down to gurney and almost cut him open with the buzz saw. Thinking about it made Leo run faster.

"Whoa, Leo slow down. I'm new to the ninja thing!" Leo looked behind him and saw that Casey was struggling to get onto the next rooftop. He quickly backtracked to the rooftop Casey was on.

"Sorry, I'm just worried is all," Leo said. Casey put a hand on Leo's shoulder and peered down at the young turtle.

"We all are. April was practically in hysterics when I told her Mikey was missing. We gotta stick togetha though. We're gonna get to Mikey and he will be fine," Casey said. Leo was taken aback by Casey actually being serious. Even when fighting, Casey was unfocused like Mikey.

"Thanks Case. I needed to here that," Leo said. Casey smiled toothily and took his hand off Leo's shoulder.

"No prob, bro. Now, how do you get to the next one?" Leo chuckled. The next rooftop was a pretty large distance from the one they were currently on.

"You jump," Leo said nonchalantly. Casey turned to him, panic clearly in his features.

"Do you know how far that is?!"

"If you don't think about it, you'll make it. You can always ride on my back and look like a timid kid instead of a vigilantly." Casey scowled and glared at the gap between him and the next rooftop.

"No way bro."

"Okay, how about this? On the count of three, you'll jump. That way you psych yourself up," Leo said. Casey took a step closer and quickly shuffled back.

"How about to the count of ten?" Casey was met with a pointed look. "Okay." Casey shifted into position and Leo jumped to the other side.

"One." Casey shifted.

"Two." He began to take a running start.

"THREE!" They both yelled and Casey pushed himself off the rooftop. He went soaring through the air and landed on one of the staircases. Leo's eyes widened when he heard the loud clang of metal. He speedily walked over to the edge of the rooftop.

"Are you okay, Casey?" He was answered by a low groan. Leo chuckled when he saw his friend half way off the staircase.

"This ain't funny Leo. I ain't ever doing that again," Casey said sitting up and climbing the rest of the way to the rooftop. As he climbed, he could hear the laughter of the turtle and he bitterly cursed him. Casey heard the sound of Leo's shell cell go off. When he finally got to the top, he saw the serious expression on Leo's face.

"Yeah, we'll meet you there," Leo said hanging up the phone. He noticed Casey and turned to him, eyes burning with determination.

"What's up Leo? Did they find him?" Leo shook his head and Casey felt his heart drop.

"They have a lead on where he could be. We have to get to the dock quickly," he said. Casey wasted no time and followed the turtle into the night.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Mikey opened his eyes and was met with a dark room. He wondered how much time had passed since he had been taken and if his brothers knew he was missing. A metallic taste was the first thing he registered. He grimaced, recognizing it was blood.

"Okay, I need to get out of here," he said. Once he said that, he realized it was pretty stupid. **Of course, **he needed to get out of here. Now he knew why Raph called him stupid. He deeply missed his family right now, even Raph. He would gladly take several beatings from Raph then be here at the moment. A sharp pain shot through his body.

"Scratch that. I'd rather take three beatings from Raph then be here," he said with a slight chuckle. The lights in the room shot on. It took Mikey a second to adjust to the lights. In a burst of hope, he thought it was his brothers coming to save him, but the hope died when he saw the brawny guy form before with a bag on his shoulder. Mikey felt fear wash over him when he saw the knife in the man's hand.

"Hello freak. Good, you fear me," he said moving closer to the turtle. Mikey desperately tried to get away from the man, but the broken leg and bondages wouldn't permit him.

"I don't think you and I got properly acquainted with each other and since the boss doesn't know I'm down here, I feel like this would be the perfect time," he said and Mikey's eyes widened. The man stood in front of the turtle now. "I can tell that hitting you isn't going to do anything, so why don't we get a little more serious?" He grabbed onto Mikey's head and slid the knife on the side of his face. Mikey screamed as the pain washed over his body. The man seemed to smile with glee. He leaned in closer to Mikey, dragging the knife along his arm as he did. Mikey whimpered and shut his eyes tightly.

"I like the noise you made there. Come on, turtle. Scream for me," the man said whispering into Mikey's ear, plunging the knife into Mikey's thigh. Mikey screamed, this time louder. The man laughed darkly as he witnessed the blood drop down the turtle's face and thigh. He frowned when the turtle's eyes were still closed. He took out a second knife and ran it along the turtle's neck. Mikey's eyes shot open and he looked at the man with pleading eyes.

"That wound on your thigh looks a little serious. Let me wash it out," the man walked over to the bag he had carried in and rummaged through it. He brought out a bottle of alcohol and his face lit up when the turtle's shook his head fiercely.

"I just want to help you get cleaned up, freak," he said walking back over to Mikey. He unscrewed the bottle and took the knife out of the turtle's thigh. He loved the way he clenched his eyes shut. The man dumped the contents of the bottle onto the wound. Mikey screamed again as tears started trickling down his face. He couldn't take the pain. The man, once the bottle was empty, plunged the knife back in the turtle's thigh, marveling at the way the freak gasped in pain.

"Now, doesn't that feel better that your thigh is nice and clean?" Mikey couldn't even look at the man. He looked down as his tears mixed with the blood on the floor. His head was roughly pulled back again as the cut on his neck stung and his ribs screeched in pain.

"You're not good at listening are you? Wait, I forgot something. Your mask is dirty too," the man said. Mikey's eyes narrowed as he felt anger wash over him.

"Don't...touch…my…mask," he said angrily, but since his voice was hoarse, he thought he sounded ridiculous. The man narrowed his at Mikey before he grabbed Mikey's neck. Pain flared and his airways became restricted.

"I don't think you had the option to comment," he said. Mikey started seeing black spots as he felt closer to slipping into unconsciousness. After what seemed like forever, the man released his hold and Mikey greedily gulped in air. The man took the knife and cut Mikey's mask off his face.

"I'll take this as a souvenir, along with those toys you carried with you," he said. Mikey saw the man walk to the bag and deposit the mask in his bag. He took out the nunchakus to show them off.

"Those…are…mine," Mikey said between breaths. The man shouldered to bag and walked to the door.

"Really? Well they are mine now," he said turning off the light and closing the door behind him, leaving Mikey to sob in the silence.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"You sure this is the address?" Raph said. The three of them had been waiting outside the apartment complex for about twenty minutes. Raph was getting anxious, knowing that they were very close to finding their brother. Donnie and Leatherhead had been waiting, but they were both on edge at the moment.

"Yes, Raph. He could just be out right now," Donnie said twirling his bo in an effort to pacify his adrenaline. Leatherhead suddenly perked up and growled. Both Donnie and turned their attention to the crocodile and hoped he would not lose it now.

"What's up, LH?" Donnie said. His form of an answer came by pointing at car parking on the street. A large man stepped out and he was carrying a bag on his shoulder.

"Is that him Donnie?" Raph said. Donnie looked at the files and to the men walking towards the entrance of the complex.

"That's him. Frank Cooper," Donnie said eyes narrowing.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Frank stood at the door to his apartment. He inserted the key and threw open the door. He kicked the Chinese takeout boxes out of the way while depositing the bag on the table. Frank walked to his fridge and grabbed a beer before loosening his tie and sitting in the beat up chair in front of the TV. He screwed off the lid and took a huge swig. Suddenly, the beer was knocked out of his hands and hit the wall, shattering. Frank sputtered before looking at the ground to see the spilled beer and something that looked like an oversized fork with red cloth on the handles.

Frank reached into his pocket to take out his knife, eyes narrowing at the shadows.

"Come on, out! Show yourself!" Something knocked the wind out of him. A stick of some sort hit him in the gut, knocking him to his knees. The blade was picked up, away from his reach. Two figures grabbed him by the arms and placed him back in the recliner. Frank was greedily trying to get oxygen back into his lungs. He heard the sound of metal being picked up off the ground.

"Hello Mr. Cooper," the voice said. The voice was young, almost timid, and male. Frank looked up in the direction of the voice, but was only met with shadows.

"What do ya want, ya jackass?" He sputtered. He heard the _whiz _and he felt a pain on his cheek. Raising a hand, he touched his injured cheek and pulled it away to see blood. Next to him, the same metal fork thing was imbedded right next to his head. Fear began to build in the large man.

"Next time, I won't miss. I suggest you treat my brother kindly," another voice said. The voice was harsh and sported a Brooklyn accent. Like the first one, the voice was male and didn't have the same innocence of the first one. Frank glared at the second voice.

"What do you want?" He heard the floor creak and he looked towards it, his eyes widening in shock. It was like the turtle back at the docks, except this one seemed older and had a purple bandana on. He almost laughed at his luck. The turtle's features were angry, but wary, like he was afraid of what the man was going to do. Despite the situation, he smiled, happy that the turtle feared him.

"We want our brother back," he said. He heard the floorboard creek again and he looked over in the corner. He made out a rather big outline and he concluded it was the bookcase. The floorboards creaked again as if someone was moving across them. Accompanied by the floorboards creaking was the sound of a zipper.

"I don't know anything about this "brother" of yours. Now get out of my house," Frank spat. A roar of anger shocked him. The turtle in front of him jumped back, eyes wide. Suddenly, he felt an immense pain in his leg and he cried out. He looked down and saw the metal fork in his thigh.

"So you don't know where our brother is? Huh! You like to lie too, eh?!" Frank looked up and was immediately shocked at what he saw. Another turtle was in front of him. On his face was a red bandana and was the most menacing look he'd have ever seen. Compared to the other turtle's he had encountered, this one had no fear, just plain, full out anger. In the turtle's amber eyes, was blood thirsty vengeance.

"What is this then?" The turtle thrust the orange bandana in his vison. The bandana was torn and he splotches of blood on it. He saw the purple banded turtle gasp and was suddenly lifted out of the chair and slammed against the wall. A low menacing growl was heard and he made eye contact with feral green eyes. Frank was suspended in the air. He let out a whimper of fear when he realized that the creature in front of him was a nine foot tall crocodile. The beast's hand was enough to close around his torso. Unlike the turtle's angry eyes, the crocodile's eyes were wild, as if…it was going to strike.

"Please, let me down!" Frank felt bones break when the beast let out roar and slammed him on the ground. Frank whimpered and looked anywhere but the crocodile's feral eyes. The fork thing was pulled out of his shoulder and slammed into his shoulder. Frank howled in pain as the turtle creature snarled in his face.

"You like lying, punk? You like hurting kids? You just made a big mistake! You hear about those mutants running around? Well," –he grabbed the man's shirt and pulled him close "I'm the worst one."

"Raph stop! We need him still," the purple banded turtle pleaded. He had never seen his brother lose it like this before.

"Wait outside, Donnie," the red banded turtle said. The purple banded turtle's eyes widened and grabbed onto his brother's arm.

"Raph! Stop!" Raph wiggled his way out of his brother's hold and grabbed his weapon out of the man. Frank yelled and immediately tried to clutch his leg, but couldn't because of the crocodile still holding him.

"You see, when you touch my little brothers, "–he gestured to the purple turtle and the bandana still in his hands, "you mess with the older ones." Frank's eyes widened in fear and he vaguely remembered that there was another one of the turtle's. If this was one of the older ones, what was the other one like?

"Raph, please!" The red banded turtle turned towards his brother with a wild gaze. The purple flinched back and he walked over to his brother. "Please, I just want to find Mikey." That seemed to snap the red turtle out of his blind rage. He lowered the man and sheathed his weapon.

Looking at the man in disgust, he turned to the crocodile, "Let him go, LH." The crocodile blinked and his eyes lost the feral green towards them, but still held the menacing look to them. The crocodile released his hold on the man. Frank sat up and winced as sharp pains went through his body. The red banded turtle looked at him and kneeled, weapon to his chin.

"Now let's try that again. Where. Is Our. Brother?"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Leo and Casey were standing by the docks. Casey was casually throwing rocks into the water while Leo was mediating. They both heard the squeal of tires and turned to see the Battle shell pulling up.

"What took you guys so long?" Casey said. Nobody said anything as they went around to the trunk and pulled out a badly beaten man. Leo's eyes widened significantly as he jogged to him.

"Donnie! What happened to this guy? Why didn't you guys take him to a hospital?" Raph sneered as Leatherhead climbed out the back of the truck.

"My friends, this man has done unspeakable things to, Michelangelo," Leatherhead said pulling out Mikey's mask. When Leo saw the mask, his heart dropped and he turned to glare at the man. Frank flinched at the gaze; this must be the eldest one. Leo took a step to the man, but was intercepted by Raphael.

"Let him go, Leo. I took care of him," Raph said sending a glare towards him. Leo took a slow intake of breath, but nodded looking down. He noticed the bloodied weapons sheathed to his brother.

"Okay, which dock is it?" All attention turned towards the beaten up man. He shakily raised a hand to the dock in the middle.

"Let's go," Leo said unsheathing his weapons. Frank was about to limp off, but quickly found himself handcuffed to the pole.

"Nice try, bud. If this isn't the right place, I will come back and finish you off," Raphael said. Frank nodded and watched as the party moved inside the warehouse.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Mikey knew he was going to die. He had lost too much blood and it was getting harder to concentrate. He couldn't move; the pain was unbearable. He wanted to cry, but he found he couldn't. He was upset he couldn't say goodbye to his family to them in person. An idea struck him. He let a small smile grace his lips.

"Goodbye April. Thanks for letting me be your maid of honor and being the greatest mother ever."

He felt a tear fall from his face. Huh, so he could cry.

"Goodbye Casey. Thanks for always offering me weird advice and being such a great friend to my bros and I. Also, I am really sorry about the whole "dying all your clothes pink" thing."

"Goodbye Leatherhead. I never was able to find you a lady croc, but I'm pretty sure she's still out there. Maybe she's in Florida!" He chuckled to himself, but found it hard to breathe when he did.

"Goodbye Klunk. Forget what they say about man's best friend. You are a true friend."

"Goodbye Master Splinter. I love you more than anything. I'm sorry I never focused very much."

He felt more tears spring to his eyes at the thought of his brothers.

"Donnie, you are great. You always helped me and comforted me wen Leo and Raph would fight and I never properly thanks you for that. Don't whole yourself in the lab when I'm gone. Everyone needs the resident genius around. Leo, you are the greatest big brother ever! You always know what to do either at home or on missions. Thanks for always knowing what to say. No matter what, you were always such a great leader. I hope you and the Daimyo, his son, and Usagi will always be close."

His vision blurred and started to blacken.

"Raph, a lot of people probably think we hated each other. Haha, but you were my best friend. Even as crazy as you were, you always knew how to be a great brother. I think I'll miss you the most. Goodbye guys and I love you all."

"Mikey!" He raised his head towards the door then let it drop. He must be losing it; t almost sounded like Raph. He heard the banging on the door and finally the door collapsed. He saw five figures come in.

"Mikey, God. Mikey!" One of the figures crouched in front of him with eyes filled with worry. A sharp intake of breathe was heard and a low swear.

"Can you hear me Mikey?" A light was shined in his eyes, but he didn't acknowledge it.

"D-Donnie, is h-he-,"

"No! He's not, but he doesn't have much time! We need to get him home! Be careful with him though. His leg is broken and oh my gosh-," He felt someone prod the knife in his thigh.

"Don't touch it! It could injure him more." The bounds were cut from his ankles and wrists and Mikey fell this body fall forward. Immediately, someone caught him.

"I got you Mikey. I got y-you." Mikey looked towards the person holding him. He could make out the red entails and squinted his eyes.

"Raphie?" The hold on him tightened and he felt the body shudder.

"Yeah. It's me Mikey. It's me." Mikey let out a watery laugh and he felt the tears stream down his face.

"Let's get him back to the lair. He needs medical attention quickly. Leo, run back to the Battle shell and start an IV and prep the bed. Leatherhead, can you pick him up?"

"It would be my pleasure, my friend. Anything for Michelangelo." Mikey felt his body weight being shifted and the sharp burst of pain as his body was placed in new, stronger arms. Mikey made eye contact with Leatherhead and he let a smile grace his face.

"Hey, big guy," Mikey said resting a hand on Leatherhead's face. He felt warm droplets hit his face and he immediately recognized Leatherhead was crying. Mikey head lulled back and forth and the blackness began to increase.

"Thank you guys. For coming for me," he said before the blackness consumed him.

**There will be another chapter! This chapter was for the suspense part. The next chapter was for the turtles to cope. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter so please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**HAPPY 2015! Wow, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of feedback I got! The followers and favorites were awesome and so were the reviews! So sorry about the late update. But it is the Christmas season and my life has literally been traveling around and meeting up with family.**

_Silence _

"Mikey! Mikey!" Raph shook Michelangelo with desperation, hoping for a sign of life. He turned to the resident genius in anticipation, hoping to find a conclusion to their brother's evident lack of mobility.

"Leatherhead, lower him quickly!" The crocodile wasted no time in placing the young turtle eye level. Donatello placed two fingers underneath Michelangelo's neck with baited breath.

_Silence_

Donatello felt the pang of dread slip into his stomach.

_Thump_

He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the familiar pump spread across his fingers.

"It's okay; he's alive. He only passed out. It was probably due to the pain. But like I said we need to hurry. Leatherhead, we have to move quickly, but try not to jostle him too much." Leatherhead nodded in affirmation and quickly brought the turtle closer to his chest before briskly jogging. The remaining three shared looks before following the crocodile.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Frank resisted the urge to pass out for the fifth time. The freaks had ran into the hide out and left him to feel their wrath when they got back

"The boss will kill me if he finds out that those freaks are here," he said to himself. He looked at the handcuffs in front of him and tried to break them apart. Frank seethed in frustration as he turned his attention back to the warehouse. All this attention to some orange banded freak. The looks the eldest gave him were beyond murderous. Every single one of those creatures were glaring daggers at him. Even some human that had tagged along with them. How could a human be in contact with those…things?

Frank looked at his hands and then to his wrist. A cruel smile curled across his features. On his wrist was a black watch. He reached across and held down on the button on the side. A bright red light started blinking. Frank waited until the light turned green and he pressed the button on the side. The green light started blinking and Frank smirked. He turned to stare at the warehouse and despite his situation, he laughed.

"Let's see how far you turtles get now," he said before whistling a low tune.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Leo ran into the Battle Shell and quickly began prepping the med area. He cursed when he couldn't find the IV tubes. He frantically opened the drawers and cabinets.

"Donnie, where'd you put them?" He moved to the many boxes on the floor and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw one of the tubes. He quickly hooked it up to the bag and laid the covers on the bed.

"You'll never get your brother out of there." Leo stopped his working and slowly rose into a standing positon. He had forgotten about that guy. He walked towards the trunk of the truck to stare at the man. The man had a smirk on his face even though he was in a bad situation. Glaring, Leo jumped out of the truck and slowly strode towards the man.

"And why is that?" Leo kept his voice perfectly even as he came closer to the man. The man seemed to falter when he saw the glare on the turtle's face.

"Your brother will die before your rescue team gets out," he said and Leo looked up at the man.

"Do you want to hear a story?" Frank looked completely befuddled when the turtle asked him that.

"What?"

"This happened a while. You remember the Shredder, right?" Frank glared at the turtle.

"Yeah."

"Well, he had an apprentice named Karai. We were originally friends until it came to upholding the honor in her family. During one of our fights, she stabbed me. That friendship was severed. After my recovery was over, I became ruthless. I pushed my brothers to the brink of exhaustion and whenever they goofed off, I would be cruel to them. Mainly Mikey since he goofed off the most," Leo said turned to glare at the man. He brought out his katana and Frank's eyes widened.

"When something happens to my family and I couldn't protect them, something snaps inside of me. Rage is the only thing I feel. By the looks of it, you got those marks from my brother Raphael. He must have lost it finally. You see, when I was in that ruthless area in my life, Raphael had to hold me back. You can only imagine how crazy I was. But now,"- he held up the katana to Frank's neck –"there's nobody to hold me back." Frank felt sweat break out on his back. He could practically see the monster in the creature's eyes; they were glinting with unrisen anger. He briefly thought back to the red-banded turtle he had encountered. No, this turtle was the worst of the four.

"The red turtle said nothing was going to happen to me. Besides, I got people coming here now," Frank said, trying to ignore the blade on his neck. Leo suddenly jumped up and slammed his foot into Frank's knee. Frank crumbled to the ground in a fit of pain. Leo was about to lean into the man until he heard the sound of tires. Quickly, he climbed on top of the Battle Shell and to the incoming fleet of cars pulling up. Narrowing his eyes, he climbed down from the truck and moved to the man on the ground. He sheathed his sword and leaned in close to Frank's ear.

"Let's put it this way," Leonardo said completely ignoring the man's cries of pain "If Michelangelo doesn't come out of that warehouse alive, I will come for you and I will make you wish that my crocodile friend had gotten to you instead of me."

Leo stood up and ran into the warehouse right as the first car opened the door.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 

"How's it looking up there, Don?" Donatello sent a shake of his head down from his position. He was standing on top a stack of crates in an attempt the find an exit route. The guard's numbers had increased drastically from when the team had first entered. Finding a safe way out was the main concern right now.

"Not good. Guards are all over the place. I don't see a safe way out without having to fight." He could practically hear the smirks coming from Casey and Raphael.

"That's fine with us. Leave it two Raph and I," Casey said. Donatello jumped down from his positon and looked at Leatherhead. The crocodile was lying flat on his belly with Michelangelo curled into his body.

"How is he?" Leatherhead uncurled his tail to show the badly injured turtle. Raph sucked in a breath when he got a good look at his brother. Mikey's right eye was swollen shut and the cuts on his body were finally crusting over. His broken leg was now a deep purple color almost black. His broken ribs were painfully poking at the skin, looking as though they would puncture through. The bruises on his body were turning a deep purple and blue. The knife wound on his thigh was starting to fester and Donatello wished he could take the knife out, but he knew it would only make matters worse. Overall, Michelangelo was in a horrible positon and they needed to get home immediately.

"My friends, I fear he is not doing well," LH said, wrapping his arms around Michelangelo and shifting into a standing position.

"What was your first clue? The knife or the broken leg?" Raph stated bitterly. Donatello quickly turned on his brother, eyes wide with shock. Now was definitely not a good time for Leatherhead to Hulk out. Leatherhead turned to stare at Raphael, eyes narrowed.

"I was only stating the answer to Donatello's question. I do not recall asking for your sarcastic remarks Raphael," Leatherhead said, his voice deathly calm. Raphael glared at the crocodile. He opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when Michelangelo let out a whimper of pain and started wiggling in Leatherhead's arms. Raphael immediately moved towards him. He grabbed Mikey's hand and rubbed his finger across it.

"It's okay Mikey. We'll get home soon, and then you'll get all better," Raph said low to Mikey's ear. Mikey stopped moving and became still in Leatherhead's arms once again. Donatello and Raphael shared a worried look. Donatello peered over the crates to look for any incoming enemies.

"Hey Donnie!" Donnie turned to see his oldest brother coming through the window. He gracefully landed on the overheard balcony and jumped to the crates, landing next to Raphael.

"Leo, what took you so long?" Raphael said. Leonardo met his eye with a level look.

"We have to get out of here. Quickly!" Leonardo was already moving towards the window.

"What do you mean Leo? I know Mikey's hurt really badly, but we can't rush this!"

"You don't understand Donnie! There are a ton of reinforcements coming. That guy outside alerted them," Leo said. Donnie's eyes widened and he ran his hand over his head.

"What do we do Leo?" Leo looked at Michelangelo who was breathing heavily. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't guarantee the safety of Mikey if he was to go for an all-out attack. They would need everybody to get through this mess.

"What if we call in some reinforcements?" Leo shook his head.

"It would take too long for them to get here."

"Well what do we do? Standing here sure as hell ain't gonna ge-," They froze at the sound of the bay doors opening. Raphael quickly moved to stand on the crates. A large group of men were filing in, guns armed and twitching in anticipation. Raphael's blood began to boil when he laid eyes on Frank, limping in with a devious smirk on his face. Next to him was a handsome man in a tailored suit, looking around the warehouse as if he were bored; a cigarette rested between his lips. The men seemed to file around him in a protective manner. Realization dawned on Raphael as his glare intensified, a snarl escaping his beak. This is the boss. This is the man who had ordered the attack on Mikey.

The man in the suit stopped walking along with all the men in the room. Silence filled the warehouse. The man's cold eyes scanned the area before a cruel smirk crept along his face.

"Hello turtles!" Raphael glanced back at Leo and Donnie. They both were rigid.

"My name is Jasper Albeit! How are you today?"

Silence

Frowning at the lack of response, Jasper said, "I suggest you to come out. My boys have surrounded the place. There is no escape." A movement caught Raphael's eyes. He looked down again and saw that Leonardo was signaling him. He made a series of movements with his hands and Raphael frowned and shook his head. Leonardo huffed and signed again with his hands. Raphael angrily responded with his own movements. Leo adamantly signed again, slamming his fist on his hand. Raph growled and turned to the men again, jumping down from his position. The men jumped back in shock at the sight of the turtle in front of him. Jasper was the most shocked out of the men. His eyes slowly took in the muscular creature in front of him. His arms were crossed in front of him, flexing his brawny arms. The turtle's eyes were filled with anger and he shifted on his feet in an intimidating manner.

"Well aren't you a strong one? But I doubt you are alone…" Jasper said his voice trailing off. The red turtle glared at him.

"Where are the rest of these creatures?" Frank snapped his attention to his boss.

"They are near here boss. The leader of them just talked to me." Jasper looked around and frowned.

"I don't see them, Frank. I don't suppose you are lying about the other creatures." Frank's eyes widened when the other men turned towards him; the sound of the guns charging make sweat break out on his neck.

"Hey, what's he doing?" Jasper's attention shifted back to the turtle when he noticed the creature staring at the crates. He said something, but Jasper couldn't place the language. It sounded almost like Japanese.

"H-hey boss. Look," the man to Jasper's right said. Jasper looked to the crates again and his eyes lit up with fascination. Two more turtle creatures walked out followed by a man in a hockey mask. Jasper would have been thrilled to see more turtle creatures, but a scowl crossed his face when he saw the large crocodile moving out from behind the crates.

"Frank!" Frank moved closer to his boss, apprehension present. Jasper straightened his tie and quickly grabbed hold up Frank's tie, dragging him down to eye level.

"Yes sir?"

"You did not mention that there would be a mutated crocodile with them. See, these are things that make me upset." He let go of Frank's tie. Frank stumbled back and let out a hiss of pain when he put pressure on his injured leg. Jasper rolled his eyes at the large man and quickly focused his attention on the crocodile. He noticed the beast was covering something in his arms.

Jasper turned his attention to his left. He jerked his head at the crocodile. The men nodded and moved closer to the crocodile. The crocodile growled, its eyes turning an unnatural green and holding an arm in front of it in a defensive stance. Jasper's eyes widened and a sardonic smirk played across his face when he saw what was in the crocodile's arms.

"Michelangelo! My, it seems my pet has gotten himself hurt. Pretty badly it seems." His smirk deepened when he saw the three turtle creatures tense and the red banded one step forward.

"Pet? You bastard! He is nobody's pet!" Jasper almost flinched back at the turtle's rough voice. The two men took another step closer and the two turtles took a step closer to the purple-banded turtle, determination on their features. Jasper's eyes lit up with pure joy.

"Ah, so he was right! That's sweet. You two must be the older brothers." The two older turtles sent a look at each other.

"It really is a shame that the so called "older brothers" failed to protect their baby brother. I bet when I was striking him, he wished his older brothers were there to save him. What a shame," Jasper said sarcastically. The red-banded brother growled and whipped out his weapons that were on his sides along with the hockey masked man, pulling out a baseball bat from the golf bag on his back.

"You're asking to get your ass kicked, bud," the hockey man growled.

"Casey!" The hockey man turned to the blue-banded turtle and nodded his head at the sharp look he was sending. The blue banded turtle stepped forward. He wore an expression of ample serenity, though it was a façade. It was easy to notice that the turtle was struggling to remain calm. This only made Jasper smirk harder.

"Look, we'll forgive you for what you did to our brother-," The red banded turtle whipped his head towards the blue turtle.

"Like hell Leo! Are you insane?"

Ignoring his brother, the blue banded turtle continues, "**IF **you let us go freely. Our brother needs medical attention."

Smiling and letting out a chuckle, Jasper took a log intake of the nicotine stick. Blowing out, he said "And if I don't let you go free?" The blue-banded turtle wasted no time in whipping out the swords that glittered in the moonlight above. The other turtle brought out the weapon strapped to his back, a glare nestled on his face.

Mimicking his brother's expression, the blue banded turtle said, "If you don't, things might get a little ugly." Jasper smirked at the creature in front of him. There were only four of them and he had more than fifty men on him. There was no chance of winning for them. Jasper turned to his men, the smirk still on his face.

"Get them."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Master Splinter?" The old rat turned his attention to the entrance of the dojo doors. April was standing there, a worried expression on her face. She had one hand in the other, both pressed closely to her chest.

"Miss O'Neil. To what do I owe this visit?" April moved to the rat. She lowered herself onto the floor, resting on her knees. Splinter closed his eyes again, shifting into a meditative state.

"I'm sure you've heard about Mikey's disappearance." Splinter nodded, ignoring the flash of worry in his chest. He heard April shift her position.

"Yes."

"Well, I was just, you know, wondering if you've heard anything form the guys?" Splinter sighed and opened his eyes to stare at the woman in front him.

"I have not heard anything from my sons, but I have complete faith in them," he said. Splinter noticed the nervous expression on her face. He smiled softly and reached for his cane.

"Miss O'Neil, would you like to accompany me to the kitchen to have a cup of tea?" April snapped her attention to the rat and smiled.

"Yes, that would be lovely. I think it will calm my nerves," she said. Splinter smiled and rose from the ground. He reached a hand to help April off the ground, which she gladly accepted. The two moved to the kitchen in a comfortable silence. The only sound that was heard was Splinter's cane connecting with the stony floor.

Once arriving in the kitchen, Splinter made quick work at taking out the tea kettle and filling it up with water. Placing it on the burner, he brought out two mugs and setting them on the counter. He removed two tea bags from a box near the sink. The tea bags were inserted in the mugs, followed by two scoops of sugar in one mug. Splinter took some milk out of the fridge and poured some into the other mug. He paused from his tea making to look at April. She was hugging her body with a sad expression on her face. Worry lines were present on her forehead. Splinter moved to the woman and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Michelangelo will be brought home and will be okay. His brothers and Mr. Jones will make sure of this," he said. A whistling sound broke through the atmosphere and Splinter moved to the kettle. He shut off the burner and poured the hot water into the mugs. Sticking two spoons into the mugs, he grabbed them by the handles, moving to the tables. He set the one with sugar in front of April and took a seat across form her. Splinter sipped his tea while keeping his eyes fixated on the redhead. She was shaking slightly, a frown on her face. Splinter's tail twitched anxiously. He looked down at it confused, but was surprised when April stood up suddenly, slamming her hands on the table.

"How do you know? How can you remain so calm at a time like this?" Splinter stared at the woman blankly. He placed his hands around the base of the mug and stared at the tantalizing, brown liquid in front of him. April stared at the rat as she slowly sank into her seat. The thick silence was beginning to drown them.

"I'm sorry, Splinter. I just-"

"It is quite alright," Splinter said, a soft smile crossing his face. "Miss O'Neil, this isn't the first time Michelangelo has lost his way." April turned her attention to Splinter.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. Michelangelo always had a habit of wandering off. It caused me great stress when he was growing up." April chuckled, amused by the image of a panicked stressed Splinter.

"But there was this one time when he was seven when I was truly worried for him. Yes, he and his brothers broke bones when they were younger. They were raised in a sewer after all, but I have a memory of when Michelangelo did not return home one night." April's brows knitted in confusion and she took the mug in her hands.

"This took place when it was one of the coldest nights in New York in a long time. I had asked Leonardo to watch over his brothers while I went searching for warmer blankets and food. I had failed to notice Michelangelo follow me out of the lair. When I came back a few hours later, I was surprised to see Donatello in tears and Leonardo desperately trying to comfort him. Raphael was eagerly pacing with a scared look on his face. I questioned why such chaos had ensued and Leonardo had explained that Michelangelo had wandered off. I had prior experience to Michelangelo's frequent adventures, so I was not worried. I picked up Donatello and ensured him that his brother would return home safely. Michelangelo usually would return home in the middle of the night and would readily accept his punishment. I had placed the boys down and went to mediate." Splinter sighed and rubbed a paw over the other.

"The next morning, I rose to check on the boys, but was shocked to find they were gone. I immediately moved to the entrance of our home to search for them, but I stopped when I heard voices coming from down the tunnel. I saw Raphael and Donatello carrying a shivering and bruised Michelangelo back home. I quickly moved to place him in lukewarm water and later wrap several blankets around him. He had woken two days later with a high fever. His brothers never left his side through his whole slumber." By now Splinter's tea was now forgotten and his expression became clouded over. April stared at the rat. Worry lines etched across his face. April reached across the table to grab onto the rat's paw. Splinter slowly raised his head to stare at April. She had a small smile on her face.

"Thank you for sharing that with me," she said. Splinter smiled and placed his other paw on her hand.

"It was my pleasure." He squeezed her hand and rose from his seat. He placed the mug into the sink and moved towards the entrance of the kitchen.

"Miss O'Neil." April snapped her attention to Splinter. He was staring at her with a small smile on his face.

"The moral to my story is that no matter what, Raphael and his brothers will always bring their younger brother home."

IIIIIIII

The battle was not going well for both of the parties. The turtles were having a hard time fighting the men, whose numbers seemed to increase as they knocked them out. The men, even though the team of misfits was small, they were highly skilled and were easily beating them. Looking to his right, Leonardo ducked right in time to dodge an incoming attack. He easily sliced the man's hand, stopping him from using his gun. Leo paused for a minute to catch his breath. He observed the fights in front of him to see if his brothers were in need of any help. Raphael was easily taking on four guys and Leo briefly wondered how Raphael was keeping his cool. Leo paused his surveying to intercept an attack aimed at his head. He sliced the gun and hit the man with the hilt of his sword, knocking him unconscious. Two more men charged and Leo underneath the second man and swung his legs out to take out both men. The men collapsed and Leo repeated the process of hitting the men with the hilt of his swords.

"Leo, I could use some help!" Leo immediately turned to see five men swarming Donnie while he was desperately trying to ward them off. Leo narrowed his eyes and ducked just in time when a man tried to swipe at him. He swatted the man's legs out from underneath him, while knocking him out. Leo jumped on top of the unconscious man and sprung himself in the air and whistled. Two of the men that were attacking Donnie looked at him and Leo slammed the butt of the swords against their skulls; the men didn't get up. Donnie sent him a grateful look and quickly did a split kick to the men coming at him on each side. Leo moved to Donnie's side and they both glared at the one man remaining. The man faltered, fear was evident on his face. Releasing a yell, Donnie and Leo ran towards the man. Leo crouched when he got in front of Donnie and Donnie jumped on Leo's shell and swung his bo staff down on the man's head. Leo looked at Donatello and smiled before Donnie ran into the sea of men, getting ready for the next fight. Leo moved to help Casey, but stopped hearing a loud roar in Leatherhead's direction. He turned quickly and saw Leatherhead vainly fighting off the men. It was not going well for the crocodile because he had Michelangelo nestled in one arm and he held one arm as a shield so none of the attacks would harm Michelangelo.

Leo's eyes widened when he saw one of the men climb onto one of the crates and aim his gun at Leatherhead's head.

"LH, duck!" The mutated crocodile turned his attention to Leo and quickly ducked in time for one of Leo's katanas to plunge into the man's shoulder. The gun fired and shots went all around the room. The bullets ricocheted when they hit the metal arches. Leo and Leatherhead were quick to move behind a stack of crates. They watched as many of the men were hit. Some were hit in the legs and arms, while some it hit them in the stomachs and chests. The gun fired stopped and a large portion of the men were too badly injured to continue while some ceased movement altogether. Leo breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Leatherhead.

"You okay Leatherhead? Did any of the shots hit you?" Leatherhead shook his head.

"Ah my friend. Gunshots cannot penetrate my mutated form." Leo nodded and started scoping the area.

"Hey Leo!" Leo turned to see Donnie, Raphael and Casey moving towards him. Donnie had a few cuts and bruises but he seemed fine. Casey's right arms held several bruises and his sweatpants were torn with blood right above his left knee.

"Are you alright Casey?" The man lifted his pant leg to show him the gash right above his knee.

"One guy got a lucky swing on me. I can still fight though," Casey said. Leo nodded and his attention turned to Raph. Raphael was sporting a large gash on his shoulder with small cuts on his biceps. Leo would not have been worried if he had noticed Raphael's favoring his right leg. Leo's eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to his brother.

"What happened to your leg Raph?" The turtle in question bit his lip as if he was ashamed. He turned slowly to show them his leg. Leo's eyes widened and Casey took a sharp intake of breath. One of the bullet's had hit Raphael in his calf. Leo and Donnie immediately moved to help Raph sit down.

"I'm fine. I don't need to be babied by ya guys," he said. Leo knew that his brother was in pain, but his pride refused him to admit it.

"Raph you can't continue like this," Leo said.

"I just have to stay off of my leg when I fight. I'm fine," he insisted. Leo placed his hands on Raph's shoulders and Raphael snapped his attention to his older brother.

"Please Raph. I don't want to see you get hurt even more. After all, you are my younger brother too," Leo said quietly. Raph's eyes widened and he looked down at his hands resting in his lap. Raph shook his head.

"Whatever Leo. At least let me watch Mikey," he said. Leo knitted his brows.

"I don't think that is such a good idea. You're injured Raph," Donnie said.

"Look we aren't going to get far if LH has to constantly protect Mikey. We need him to win," Raph said.

"You sure Raph? I mean bro, you won't think it is stressful?" Casey said. Raph turned to glare at him.

"Nothing is stressful when it comes to protecting my bros," Raph said. Donnie exchanged a look with Leo. Needless to say, Leo didn't like it. He didn't like that Raph was injured and he hated that Raph was right. They needed LH to win. His brute strength is enough to take out at least ten men.

"Okay Raph, just please be careful," Leo said. Raph nodded and an unspoken oath was said between the two. The two had always been at each other throats because they had always wanted to prove themselves to their brothers and to their Master. When it came to it, they would both do anything to protect their family.

"Okay LH, just gently lay Mikey down next to Raph," Donnie said. Leatherhead nodded and moved towards Raphael. Mikey was breathing heavily and he whimpered when he was placed on the ground. His broken leg poked dangerously against his skin. Raph sat up straighter so his shell was rested against the crate. Leatherhead moved Mikey closer so that half his body was rested on Raphael's good leg. Mikey relaxed when Raph began rubbing his hand along his head, much like what he did when Mikey had nightmares when they were younger. Leo smiled at the two then turned back to the remainder of the team.

"Let's finish this."

IIIIIIIIII

Jasper Albeit was not a happy man. The smoke was thick in the warehouse due to the gun firing off. He stood behind the door leading to the entrance to the warehouse. Fifteen of his men remained with him.

"Go inside and see if those turtles are dead. Find the orange one though," he said to two of his men. The men nodded and moved stealthily into the warehouse. When the men disappeared, he turned his attention back to Frank.

"What did happen to Michelangelo? I know he did not receive those injuries from my men," Jasper said straightening his tie. Frank looked away from him and towards the ground.

"He wasn't listening to you during the interrogation so I thought I could speed things along by taking care of him myself," he said proudly. Jasper felt his anger rise. He turned his back to Frank and then turned back around sharply with his fist connecting to the man's cheek. Frank got knocked down and held his jaw, looking at Jasper in shock and fear.

"You idiot! Do you know how much I could make off him alone? Millions! He's practically on his deathbed now and he's not going to be worth anything!"

"But you still have the other turtles!"

"That doesn't matter! Apparently that kid has a reputation. Some champion of some sort. You ruined it by hurting him! They wanted him in decent shape, not dead. You cost me for this Frank!" Jasper pulled the gun from his holster and aimed it at Frank's head. Frank got on his knees, wincing when he put pressure on his bad leg.

"Please sir! I've never done anything bad. I've always completed the missions with no trouble. Give me another chance," Frank begged. Jasper cocked the gun and looked around at his men. They were looking at him in mild shock.

"Sir." Jasper looked up and saw the two men he had sent to scope the area.

"What is it?"

"Two of the turtles are moving out from their hiding spot along with the crocodile and man."

"Where are the other two?"

"We can't place a location on them." Jasper stared at the warehouse. A thought came to mind and a smile crept across his face.

"I'll give you another chance Frank. I want you and three men to go to the other side of the warehouse and find the other turtles. Chances are that one of the turtles got hurt during the shots. Maybe the other two are hiding out behind the crates." Frank slowly got to his feet and started barking orders at the men as they moved behind the warehouse. Jasper turned his attention back to the entrance of the warehouse.

"Let's go see our friends," Jasper said smirking. He gestured to his men and they entered first. Once inside, they signaled for Jasper to follow in. Bodies littered the ground and he saw multiple rounds of ammo on the ground. Holes were wound throughout the warehouse. He saw the blue banded and purple banded turtle were still standing. "What happened to my red banded friend? I liked him. He had attitude."

"He is none of your concern." Jasper inhaled in his cigarette.

"Shame really. He was far more entertaining than the other turtle." The man's grip on his bat tightened and the crocodile growled, eyes flashing green. The men took a step back, eyes widening. "I see you're using your big friend to intimidate me. Not going to happen."

"Do you see what you've done?" Jasper looked around him, boredom begin to seep into him.

"I don't see your problem." The purple banded turtle finally stepped forward.

"How can you not see this? You let things get this way! You could have not let this happen if you would just allow us to leave with our brother." Jasper dropped his cigarette on the ground and snuffed it with his foot.

"My men chose to join me. It is their decision to get killed or not." The purple turtle pulled his weapon out. The blue banded turtle looked at him warily, but the purple turtle did not move from his spot. A beep sounded from Jasper's pocket. He looked down and pulled out his phone, smirking at the message. He put his phone away and let out a chuckle.

"I believe the tides have turned my friends."

IIIIIIIIIIIII

The warehouse doors were thrown open and in walked the men. Frank was sneering as he entered.

"I think these belong to you," Frank said stepping out of the way.

"Let me go! Leave him alone!" Raphael was being held on by four guys. He had a black eye and was desperately moving to the other side. Leo followed his line of sight and saw Michelangelo being held up by two men. Frank walked over to Mikey and shook him.

"Don't touch him!" To silence Raph, one of the men put pressure on his bullet wound. Raph's face contorted with pain and he clamped his mouth shut. Casey took a step forward, but Leo held him back.

"Hey wake up!" Mikey's eyes opened before he collapsed in evident pain. The men struggled to keep him standing. They forced him standing and Mikey's face contorted in pain. He looked around the room and flinched back when he saw Frank.

"Hello little freak. Happy to me again?" Mikey's eyes widened as he desperately looked around the room again. His eyes locked with Donatello's.

"Donnie!" His voice cracked and his eyes started glistening. Donatello looked at his brother with extreme grief.

"We're going to get you Mikey!" Frank's face contorted and he raised a hand and slapped in across the young turtle's face.

"You never learn do you freak?"

All hell broke loose

The roar was deafening. Nothing could stop the crocodile from his target. His eyes were now bright green and he charged. Many of the men fired but it did nothing against the mutated crocodile. He reached out a hand and grabbed a man, throwing him across the room. Leo charged swords drawn. Donatello ran behind his brother, anger filled in the pacifist's eyes. Casey wasted no time in following after him, muscles tensed, eyes brimming with leashed rage. Raphael sunk down low to the ground and suddenly pushed himself up, shoving the men away from him. He grabbed his sai from one of the men's hand. He made quick work plunging it into one of the men's leg and rapidly moved to the next man. Leo swung his sword and the flat edge made contact with the man's head.

"You're mine freak!" Leo turned to see Raphael battling with Frank. Both attackers were at a disadvantage; they both were injured. It would have to rely on pure skill. Leo smiled while blocking an attack. This would be a quick fight.

Donatello moved to the men that were holding Mikey. Mikey was desperately trying to escape them, but he was far too injured to raise his arm. Donnie jumped in front of the men and easily beat them down. Mikey swayed and started falling and Donnie was quick to grab onto him.

"I got you buddy. I got ya." Mikey looked at Donatello and smiled softly to his brother.

"Thanks Donnie," he said. Donnie smiled and maneuvered Mikey so he was leaning against him.

"Anything for you Mikey. Let's get out of here." The two brothers moved to the entrance doors.

"Not so fast, friends." Donnie and Mikey turned to see Jasper standing, a gun in hand and a smile on his face. Donnie tensed as he cocked the gun. Jasper ran a hand through his hair.

"Do you know how long it took for me to find you guys? How much money I put it in to tips I heard on the street and deals I've made? I've invested too much money into finding your brother. I'm not going to just let you leave now. Not after all that hard work I put in to him." Donnie looked over at Mikey who was trying to glare. Donnie's hurt was beating fast. He slowly reached behind him to grab one of the shuriken that was attached to his belt.

"You are not going to touch my brother ever again!" Donnie quickly chucked the shuriken and threw it towards Jasper. The shuriken sunk deep into his shoulder. He let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground. Donnie made quick work at kicking the gun out of his reach.

"Hey Mikey. I'm going to have to step away from you for a minute so I can tie him up. Okay?" Mikey nodded and Donnie moved him to lean against one of the support beams. Mikey winced but remained quiet. Donnie reached into his bag to grab some twine and quickly tied the man up. Jasper winced when Donnie pulled onto his arm roughly. "I'm sorry did that hurt?" Jasper turned to glare at Donnie but he paid him no mind. Once he was sure the man could not escape, he moved to grab Mikey. Mikey took a breath of air when Donnie accidently jostled his leg.

"Mikey, I'm so sorry!" Mikey shook his head.

"It's okay," he said quietly. Donnie bit his lower lip and looked around the warehouse. He was surprised Mikey had stayed awake this long.

"Mikey, you can go to sleep. It'll soothe the pain," Donnie said. Mikey shook his head again, eyes beginning to shine.

"I can't sleep Donnie. I'm scared," he said. Donnie's eyes widened and he looked around the warehouse again. He saw Casey finishing off the men he was battling.

"Casey, I need you!" Casey's head snapped up and he narrowed his eyes. He moved quickly to them, sheathing his bat.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to help me take Mikey to the Battle Shell," he said. Casey quickly moved to wrap Mikey's arm around him. The two easily moved Mikey out of the warehouse.

"Leo!" Leonardo turned to see Casey and Donnie standing outside the warehouse. "We got Mikey! We're leaving!" Leo quickly nodded and finished off the guy he had been battling. Raph was fighting Frank still so Leo looked around the warehouse for Leatherhead. The crocodile was easily knocking the men down and he once he was finished, he let out a loud roar. Leo felt fear grip him when Leatherhead turned his attention towards Leo. The crocodile roared gain and charged at Leonardo. Leo wasted no time in running in a dead sprint away from the feral crocodile. He could feel Leatherhead catching up to him. The crocodile ceased his movement and swung his tail, knocking Leo off of his feet. Leo went crashing to the ground, slamming his bad shoulder into the wall. He grabbed his shoulder in pain, clenching his eyes shut. He was suddenly grabbed off the floor and slammed into the wall. Leo's eyes widened and he was met with the feral eyes of Leatherhead. The crocodile roared again and begin squeezing his hand, beginning to crush the turtle in his hand.

"Leatherhead, stop!" The crocodile continued squeezing and Leo desperately tried to get out of his grasp. "Stop Leatherhead! We have to get Mikey!" The squeezing halted and the crocodile was still glaring at the turtle. Leo placed his hands on one of Leatherhead's enormous ones.

"Remember, we came here to save Mikey from the horrible men. He still needs help Leatherhead or else he'll die." Leatherhead growled and he blinked, his irises returning to their natural yellow color. He shook his head and looked at Leonardo.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry Leonardo! I j-just," he started lowering Leonardo to the ground.

"It's okay LH. I know you didn't mean to do it, but we have to help Mikey now." Leo stood up and his body cracked loudly and he attempted to move his bad shoulder but found a severe pain shot through it. He groaned, hoping his shoulder is not dislocated. He stared at it for a second and saw that his shoulder looked funny and he groaned again.

"Is something the matter?"

"Currently, yes. Come on, Let's get Raph!' Leo turned to his brother and saw him evade a punch form Frank. Raphael rolled out of the way of a kick aimed for him, wincing as the bullet wound throbbed. He felt the steady trickle of blood fall from his calf.

"You are nothing freak."

"Shut up!" Raph made a lunge at the man but he dodged.

"Face it! Your brother is going to die." Raph's was beginning to see red as his movements were becoming sloppy and unfocused. Frank smirked.

"And it's all going to be your fault because you failed to get to him in time!" At that phrase, Raph growled and he snapped.

"NO!" Raph jumped, snapping his leg across Frank's face. He landed on his right leg, keeping the pressure off his left. He slammed into Frank, knocking him to his feet. He straddled the men and raised his sai above his head, ready to plunge the sai in the man's throat.

"Raph stop!" Leo managed to block Raph's finishing blow with his katana.

"Get out of the way Leo! This dick has hurt Mikey and it's time to end him!" Leo knocked Raph off the man and Leatherhead moved to Frank, securing him. Leatherhead grabbed a nearby pipe and bended it around Frank's wrists tightly.

"For your troubles," Leatherhead said glaring. He then cocked his fist back and slammed it into the man's face; Frank didn't move after that.

"What the hell Leo!" Leo in turn straddled Raph, slamming his hands on Raph's shoulders.

"How would you feel the next morning when you killed that man? The guilt would eat you alive Raph." Raph pushed Leo off of him and rose to his feet, grumbling. He moved towards Frank again and Leo rushed to Raph, only to be held back by Leatherhead.

"He needs to deal with this himself," he said. Raph grabbed his sai off the ground and stood over Frank. He raised the sai and faltered. Raphael tried again and growled.

"He doesn't deserve to live Leo," Raph grumbled. Leo moved to Raph and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know Raph. I know," Leo said steering the limping Raphael away from Frank. The three moved out of the warehouse and to the Battle Shell. Casey was standing by the truck, arms crossed. Now that his mask was off, you could see the black eye he sported and the cut along his face. When he spotted them, his face turned grim. Donnie jumped out of the truck with a first aid kit in hand.

"Let me get that bullet out of your calf Raph," Donnie said seriously. Raph grimaced moved towards the truck. He pulled himself into the truck and moved in sitting position. Donnie opened the kit and grabbed a long pair of tweezers. Raph tensed and tilted his leg so Donnie can see it better. Donnie grabbed onto Raph's calf and started to squeeze in an effort to push the bullet closer to the surface of the skin. Raph groaned and Donnie placed the tweezers in Raph's calf in search for the bullet. Raph let out a growl in pain and tightly grabbed the floor on the truck.

"Hurry up Donnie!"

"I'm trying Raph. You can't rush this," Donnie said.

"How about I take those tweezers and-," He let out a yell of pain when Donnie pulled the tweezers out, bullet in its clamps. He quickly dropped it on the ground and took out some disinfectant. He shook it then sprayed while Raph yelled again in pain. Once finished, Donatello grabbed the needle and thread and started to thread the wound together.

"I swear you are doing this for fun Don," Raph said through gritted teeth. Donnie snorted and pulled the last stitch and cut it. He threw the needle in the kit and wrapped the gauze around Raph's calf.

"Don't be such a baby Raph," he said finishing his work. Raph jumped from the truck and Donnie climbed back in. Leo looked at Raph's leg before turning to Leatherhead.

"I don't think you can fit in the truck now that the bed is pulled out," Leo said. Leatherhead nodded and moved towards the water edge.

"It is okay, my friend. I will swim there. Please take care of Michelangelo," Leatherhead said. Leo nodded and Leatherhead dove into the water.

"Meet us back at the lair, okay?" Leatherhead nodded and dove beneath the water.

"Hey Leo." Leo turned to see Casey walking up to him.

"What's up?" Casey jerked his head back towards the truck.

"Don has already started cleaning some of the wounds. He needs you, Leo," Casey said. Leo was confused but made his way to the back of the truck quickly. Leo climbed in the back of the truck and his eyes widened. Mikey looked horrible. The cuts on his body were beginning to turn yellow, his injured leg had become completely swollen. His abdomen was completely bruised. Donnie was standing beside the bed, fiddling with an IV.

"Okay Mikey. I'm going to give you some anesthesia to lull the pain. I know you wanted to stay awake but it's for the best Mikey." Mikey stiffly nodded and held onto his arm. He smiled when he saw Leo.

"Hey Leo," he said quietly. Donnie inserted the IV into Mikey's arm. Mikey winced and turned back to Donnie.

"Jeez Donnie. Go easy on me. I'm new to this," he said innocently. Donnie stared at him in horror and snorted.

"Goofball. Even like this, you are still an idiot," Donnie said, moving the mask over Mikey's mouth. Mikey breathed in deeply and then started to relax. Mikey's eyes fluttered shut and his heartbeat showed on the monitor. Donnie sighed and turned to Leo.

"Why aren't we moving yet? He needs help," Leo said. Donnie nodded and prepped another IV bag.

"He's out of danger for right now. I put him on antibiotics for the infection. I can't do anything about the knife injury right now or his leg because it's too swollen. Plus, I don't have any corticosteroids on me," Donnie said. Leo looked at him confused.

"It's an injection they use on arthritis patients to help with swelling. I left them all back at the lab along with my splints." Leo nodded and stared at Mikey.

"Why'd you need me?" Donnie finished up the IV bag and placed the bag next to the one already in place.

"I need you for a blood transfusion. I don't have any of Mikey's blood on hand and you're the same blood type as Mikey. He's lost too much," Donnie said holding the needle. Leo nodded and sat down in the chair next to Donnie. Donnie hooked the needle to Leo and his blood started going through the tube and to the bag above Mikey's head.

"Hey Donnie?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think my shoulder is dislocated?" Donnie moved closer to Leo and narrowed his eyes. He prodded it and rubbed his hand over the shoulder.

"Yes it is. Let me shift it back into place," he said. Leo tensed when Donnie grabbed his arm. He poked the joint and put pressure on his shoulder.

"Ready?"

"On three?"

"Yep, but you can't be tense of I won't do it right."

"Okay…"

"One." Donnie swiftly pushed on the joint. A loud _pop_ rang through the air and Leo let out a gasp of pain. He took a deep breath and glared at Donnie who had a smile on his face.

"What happened to…three?" Donnie shrugged and moving to get a sling and pain reliever. He gently maneuvered Leo's arm into the sling and put the medicine in Leo's hand. Leo put them in his mouth and swallowed bitterly.

"I knew you would tense. You guys always tense when your shoulders get dislocated," Donnie said. He grabbed the needle end and took it out of Leo's arm. He grabbed a band and placed it on the injection sight. A wave of dizziness hit Leo and a can of soda was shoved in his face.

"The sugar should help." Leo grimaced and stood up. He popped the can and made work at chugging the can. Once gone, he threw the can at Donnie as revenge for his shoulder. Donnie glared and Leo jumped out of the truck and moved to Raph.

"You need help?" Raph shook his head and attempted to climb into the high seating area in the truck. Leo sighed and climbed into the truck and stuck a hand out to Raph.

"Don't be so bullheaded Raph," Leo said smiling. Raph grabbed onto his hand and Leo pulled Raph up into the seat. Raph buckled his seatbelt and crossed his arms.

"Don't tell Mikey?" Leo let out a laugh and nodded.

"Don't tell Mikey." Suddenly, the other door opened and Casey pilled in, eyes frantic. Leo stared at him cautiously.

"What's wrong Casey?" Casey turned to Leo sharply.

"I don't know! Donnie just suddenly barked at me to get in the truck." Leo was about to question him, but Donnie appeared next to them.

"Leo, I need you to drive to the lair quickly!" Donnie was about to run away, but Leo jumped out of the truck, grabbing onto Donnie.

"Donnie, what's wrong?" Donnie was shaking, his eyes wild.

"It's Mikey. He's not breathing! His body is going into shock. We need to leave quickly!" Donnie pulled his grasp out of Leo's . Leo stood in shock shaking his head.

"_No this can't be happening. He was fine a second ago, "_Leo thought. Donnie grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Leo get in the truck and start it up now!" Donnie pushed Leo towards the truck. Leo stumbled and pulled himself in the truck. Police sirens were heard in the distance as Leo shook his head.

"Oh now the cops respond the shots being fired. You'd think they would've gotten here a while ago. What was the hustle with Donnie?" Raph grumbled. Leo started up the truck and shifted into gear.

"_Go now Leo_!" Donnie shouted over the intercom. Leo slammed on the accelerator.

"Whoa! What's the hustle?" Raph said. Leo turned to him, eyes wild with panic.

"Mikey stopped breathing Raph. He stopped breathing!" Raph's eyes widened and he growled in rage, slamming his fist on dashboard. The police sirens picked up when they past the first cop. They passed four more cop cars before they passed them completely.

_Silence_

**HAPPY NEW YEARS! SO sorry again for the late chapter! Hopefully I'll have it done by the fifth because I'll be going back to school! Contrary to popular belief, I am very excited to go back! I love my friends and classes. ….Well I love my classes when I've had my cup of coffee and third hour hit. Anyway, thanks for reading! HAPPY 2015~ By the way, it is currently 2:37. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I AM SO SORRY! I'VE BEEN SO BUSY. I had finals, my dad had to go to the emergency room, my laptop got a virus then when I got it back, my dog broke it. So I had to get a new one. Also, this chapter was on my laptop and all 10, 000 words of it disappeared, so it took me awhile to get back into writing it. Plus, a lot of schoolwork and projects. Anyway, here's the next chapter. **

The truck was full of tension. Leonardo was grasping the wheel so tight that his hands were beginning to pale. His mouth was pressed in a tight line and he was slightly hunching. Casey had his head in his hands and was muttering under his breath. Raphael was staring vacantly ahead; he hadn't said anything since Leo had told him the news. The only sound in the truck was the low volume country music playing.

"_Hey Leo!"_ Leonardo glanced up at the intercom and then focused his vision back on the road accelerating slightly, going from sixty to sixty-five.

"Yeah Don?"

"_Call April and tell her to go to the lair and prep the surgical equipment. Mikey's tibia punctured his skin," _Donnie said, grimly. Leo took a shuddering breath and he saw Raph tense. Raphael's eyes narrowed, but he still didn't make a sound. Leo glanced at the clock and saw it was close to five thirty. Hopefully the red head would be waking up.

Before he could reach his shell cell, Raph grabbed his cell from his belt.

"I got it. You drive," Raphael said. Leo nodded his head and focused on the road. They were coming upon a traffic light that was turning red. "Don't you dare slow down Leo. Punch it." Leo's eyes narrowed and he slammed the accelerator down hard. The hauler lurched forward, sending the occupants backwards. The speedometer increased quickly. Cars honked as the hauler sped through the light. Leo's shoulders sagged as he took the some pressure of the accelerator.

"_If you are going to gun it like that again, some warning would be nice!" _Donnie grumbled.

"It was either slow down or gun it. Quite frankly Don, we want to get Mikey home as soon as possible!" Raph said. Donnie made a noise, but didn't anything. He knew not to argue with Raph at this moment. "Hey April? Sorry to wake you. Oh, okay. Really? Well, makes it easier. Donnie needs you to prep the surgical equipment. Because of Mikey! He ain't breathing April and his leg bone punctured his skin. Calm down April. Listen! Leatherhead will be there shortly. Tell 'im about the situation and have him help set up. Okay? Bye!" Raph slammed the phone on the dashboard and put a hand on his face. Leo stared at his brother sadly before turning back to the road. He had to remain in control; he had to keep a cool head.

"Raph, Mikey will be okay. He will be okay," Leo said. Raph shook his head and ran a hand along his face. Leo half expected him to lunge at him.

"Just get there Leo. Just get there," Raph said softly. Leo nodded and continued into the night.

IIIIIIIIIII

Captain Marshall Daniels was stunned. A hundred plus men were scattered around the warehouse. Some of them were dead, while some were unconscious. The captain took off his cap and scratched his head. He took out his walkie talkie, pressing down on the side button.

"This is Captain Daniels. We're going to need reinforcements."

"_Are the enemies causing a problem?"_ The captain almost snorted at the question.

"The opposite. We don't have enough cop cars to take them all back. Also, send more forensic criminalists. The body count keeps going up," he said watching two criminalists wheel two more body bags.

"_Will do, sir." _ The captain placed the walkie talkie back on his pouch and peered at the scene in front of him. Criminalists were taking pictures of the scenes and collecting samples. Some of the men were walking around and trying to wake the men, while some were cuffing them. Marshall sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, dreading the amount of paper work that awaited him when he got back to the station.

"Hey Captain!" Marshall turned to one of his officers. A rookie who was just starting today. Marshall walked over to the two men standing over two bodies. "Look who it is!" Marshall looked down at the two badly beaten up men. His eyes widened as recognition dawned on him.

"Frank Cooper and Jasper Albeit! We've been looking for these two for a long time!" He turned to one of the criminalists close by. "Wake these two up." The criminalist moved to the two men and brought out a bottle of the smelling salts. The criminalist made quick work at wafting the salts under both men's noses. Both of their eyes shot open and they began to sputter and snort. The criminalist took a step back and walked over to two other men. Jasper recovered and looked at the police officers in front of him, feeling a glare settle on his face. Despite the lethal glare on Jasper's face. Marshall beamed. "Mr. Albeit! So kind of you to grace us with your presence." Marshall paused when he heard Frank stopped snorting. He turned his attention to the hulking man who had a glare that matched Jasper's. "And Frank! I think Christmas came early!"

"I ain't going back to jail," Frank grumbled to the cop. Marshall, still smiling, shook his head.

"Oh, but I think you are. You have a long list of offenses over your head. You won't be getting out for a long time." Frank made a lunge at him, but stopped wincing in pain.

"Hey Cap, look at his wrists!" Marshall moved behind the men and crouched down, staring at Frank's wrists. Frank had a large pipe wrapped around his wrist. Captain Marshall took of his cap to scratch his head.

"How the hell did this happen?" He mumbled to himself.

"It was a giant crocodile! And four turtles!" Frank piped. The two cops looked at each other, both having amused expressions on their faces. Frank turned to glare at the men. "It's true. You better wipe those smiles off of your faces before I do." Marshall stood up and moved in front of them.

"I think I'll add threatening an officer to that long list of offenses. Well boys, I think this would be a great time to Mirandize them, wouldn't you agree?" The officers smiled and moved behind the men. Marshall moved away from the men and to a group of criminalists

"Frank Cooper and Jasper Albeit, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you do not have one-,"

"Whatever! I know my rights!" Jasper yelled with a frustrated sigh. Frank grimly agreed with him.

"Hey Cap! Is there any weapon that rivals claws?" Marshall turned to the criminalist curiously.

"Not that I know of." The criminalist shook her head and let out a watery laugh.

"Then you are going to want to see this one," she said. Marshall walked to where she was standing to peer at the slice marks on the crates. The slash marks were long and huge. The marks were too large for a lion or tiger.

"Do you recognize these marks?" The woman nodded grimy.

"I have a master in zoology. Based on the claw marks, they appear to be crocodile claws. But they are definitely too large to be a normal size croc. But it has to be because we found scales around this slash," she said looking at the evidence bag in her hands. Marshall looked at the bag and then to the slash marks again.

"Maybe illegal animal testing. When you get to the lab, run that through the spectrometer." The woman nodded and went back to collecting evidence around the area. Marshall moved out of the warehouse and back to the squadron car. He saw three more cop cars pulling up, along with four more ambulances and three forensic trucks. The paramedics and officers got out of their respectable vehicles and moved to Marshall.

"What do we got, Cap?"

"Looks like an illegal animal testing bust gone wrong. All of the men so far belong to the purple dragons. All of the men were taken out by an unknown party. Most of the men were found unconscious, while some are dead." The men and women looked grim at the report. They quickly moved back to their vehicles to grab the required equipment.

"I think we found a way to identify the party." Marshall turned to see Detective Connors and Rodgers staring at the weapon on the ground. Marshall moved closer to see it was a shuriken.

"Do you think the Foot are back?" Detective Connors shook his head.

"No, I remember working that case. The Foot have a different emblem on their shuriken." Marshall took a step back and stared at the murky water ahead. He had heard rumors about another group of ninjas that usually travel in the night. Nobody has ever gotten a good look at them, but the reports mention that they wore green and are generally smaller, but large. Could this belong to the clan of ninjas he heard about? Marshall moved around the warehouse to investigate the other side of it.

"There is no need for you to investigate the unknown party." Marshall froze at the voice, whipping out his gun and pointing it into the shadowed area. He noticed movement to his left and he quickly spun around. The only sounds were the voices of the cops inside the warehouse. Something moved on the storage crate. Marshall swiftly turned and glared.

"Show yourself!" Marshall half wondered why none of his men had not come to his yell.

"Stop yelling Marshall. You'll alert the other cops." A loud gush of wind hit the back of Marshall's back. He quickly turned around and was met with a man wearing complete back, except his boots and gloves, which were crimson red. He was wearing a cape that reached down to his ankles. Marshall felt intimidated by the man in front of him, but did not back down. A glare crept across his face.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" The masked man shook his head.

"We worked together a while ago. That case with the illegal drug deal ad the drug lord being convicted to life. We both were starting out." Marshall lowered his gun, eyes widening.

"Longer?" The man didn't nod or shake his head. "God, I thought you were dead!"

"Don't dig into the unknown party. They aren't a threat," he said.

"Why? They took out the Purple Dragons! They are a threat," Marshall said.

"No. They fight for the good. I've worked along side them. They are good people." Marshall stared at Longer. When Longer was on the force, he was one of the most respectable men on the force. Occasionally when they would meet for cases, Longer never gave Marshall a reason to not trust him. Marshall sighed and put the gun back in the holster.

"Fine. I'll back off. I'm trusting you though. It's my ass were talking about," Marshall said. Longer nodded and started walking away. "You can always come back to the force!" Longer paused.

"I'm there when justice needs to be served. I'm Nobody." Nobody continued walking and disappeared into the shadows. Marshall groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. He looked at the rising sun and he felt an annoyed expression creep along his face. This was going to be a long day.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Master Splinter!" April quickly dropped her cellphone and moved to Donnie's lab. She moved to the back of the room and grabbed the hospital bed in the back. She wheeled it out and grabbed the IV bags out of the drawer.

"Yes Ms. O'Neil?" Splinter stood at the doorway, watching the redhead run and grab the IV stand. April turned quickly to the rat.

"Grab the canister of anesthesia and the mask with it. Bring it over here!" Splinter nodded and wheeled it to her.

"Please tell me what is happening Ms. O'Neil. Are my sons and Mr. Jones okay?" April felt tears spring to her eyes.

"M-Mikey. Splinter, he isn't okay," she said quietly. Splinter's eyes widened and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He put a paw on his face and sighed.

"What has happened?"

"I don't know. Raph just called and said to prep the surgical equipment."

"I fear that Michelangelo is not in a good place." Splinter and April turned sharply to see Leatherhead standing, water dripping off his hulking body. He moved into the lab and grabbed one of the lab coats lying on the table. Leatherhead went into the closet and grabbed the leg splint.

"His leg is broken?" Leatherhead sighed and placed the splint on the table.

"I received a call from Raphael on the way here. He said that Michelangelo's tibia has punctured his skin." April hands flew to her mouth and Splinter's eyes narrowed. Leatherhead shook his head and went to the medicine cabinet and took out several vials of medications. He placed them on the table and went to another cabinet to take out several rolls and pads of gauze. April moved a shaky hand to look at the medications.

"Cefotaxime? Corticosteroids? They are used for bacterial infections in the blood and skin. What's swollen on him?" Leatherhead nodded and placed the gauze on the table.

"He was stabbed with a knife that was probably introduced to a lot of foreign substances. The substances caused an infection to fester in Michelangelo. Donatello had started an antibiotic to fight off the infection, but he's going to need cefotaxime to finish it off. His leg is completely swollen." April nodded and started an IV for the cefotaxime. Leatherhead moved to fill a syringe with the corticosteroids.

"Master Splinter, could you please receive pillows and blankets?" Splinter nodded and quickly left the room. When Splinter left, April turned to the crocodile in confusion. They kept extra pillows and blankets in the lab. Leatherhead must have seen them when he retrieved the splint.

"Why did you send Splinter out of the room?" Leatherhead turned and April was shocked to see tears in the mutated crocodile.

"Michelangelo looks very bad. His body is littered with cuts and bruises. His eye is swollen shut. Some of his ribs are broken and he has large gashes all over. He has lost so much blood. April, I needed to tell you so you know what you are facing when they return." April wiped the tear that was trailing down her face. She pressed her lips in a thin line and wrapped her arms around her body. Michelangelo, sweet loving Michelangelo had been put through that hell. He deserved none of that. He was always trying to help people and make them smile. Mikey should never have to frown or be in pain.

"Do you think he'll make it?" Leatherhead turned away from her to retrieve the surgical tools.

"I believe that luck is not on our side at this moment."

IIIIIIII

"I feel a disturbance. A darker time is upon us now." The man stared out at the mountain. His son turned to stare at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"Father?" The man placed a gloved hand on his son's shoulder.

"Fear not. I think we'll meet some familiar friends shortly." The man paused and looked down at his son. "Go fetch Miyamoto-san. His presence is required." The boy ran out of the room. The man stared at the mountains. A breeze filled the room and the man narrowed his eyes. "I fear a storm is coming."

IIIIIIIIIII

Leonardo turned sharply into the alley and to the garage waiting for them. Leo quickly opened the door and jumped out of the truck. He ran to a trashcan and moved the trash to reveal a keypad. He typed in the code and moved to the garage as another keypad revealed itself by the door. Leo typed in a different password and the keypad blinked green and finally into a solid green. The garage doors slid open and Leo went in. A third pad opened and Leo placed his hand on the sensor. The pad went back into the wall and the lights turned on. Leo smiled and ran back to the truck and drove it into the garage.

"I didn't think that much security was in 'ere." Leo almost jumped. Casey hadn't talked since they were on the dock.

"Donnie upgraded it from when Angel visited that time. He thought that it would be too easy for the bad guys to come in," Raph said through gritted teeth. Leo glanced at his brother and noticed beads of sweat were beginning to break out of his head.

"Raph, are you okay?" Raph nodded his head slowly.

"Let's just get Mikey in." Leo nodded. He jumped out of the truck and helped Raph out. Raph seethed when he landed on his bad leg.

"Can you walk?" Raph licked his beak and nodded. Casey jumped out on the other side and they moved to the back of the truck. Donnie was already setting up the ramp. He ran up the ramp quickly and disconnected the IV's from Mikey's bed.

"Casey, get the elevator ready." Casey nodded and ran over to the elevator. Leo moved up the ramp and he gasped at the sight of his brother. He wasn't breathing and his skin had significantly paled.

"No time to stare Leo. We got to go! Can you push Mikey?"

"Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Your shoulder Leo. I don't want to injure you further." Once Donnie said that, he could feel the throb of his shoulder start to pulsate. The pain was slowly starting to come back.

"Yes, let's go!" Donnie nodded his head and grabbed one side of the bed and Leo grabbed the other.

"Elevator's open!" Donnie and Leo shared a look and quickly moved the bed down the ramp. Raphael was leaning against the wall and he growled at the sight of Mikey.

"Jump on Raph!" Donnie yelled. Raph nodded and jumped on so his feet were dangling off the side of the bed. Raph grabbed Mikey's hand and stared vacantly ahead. Donnie and Leo quickly pushed the bed into the elevator. Leo ran out of the elevator and to the garage door. The pad came out of the wall once again and Leo placed his hand on the sensor. The garage door began to close and Leo ran back to the elevator. Casey pushed the button and the elevator doors shut.

"Call April and tell her we are on our way down." Leo whipped out his phone and dialed April's number.

"_Thank God Leo. How is Mikey?"_

"He isn't good April. We are in the elevator. Be ready," Leo said.

"_Understood. We'll see you in a minute. Leatherhead is here," _April said. Leo hung up.

"Leatherhead is at the lair." Donnie nodded, but didn't anything. The elevator began to fill with a tense silence. Leo stared at Mikey and hoped to see the rise and fall of his brother's chest, but what greeted him were lost hopes. The elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Leatherhead, April, and Master Splinter. April gasped at the sight of Mikey, but shook her head and grabbed the side of the bed.

"My son!" Splinter said rushing forward and placing a paw on Mikey's head. He glanced at Raphael sitting on the bed and placed a paw on him as well.

"I'm okay, Sensei," Raph said. Splinter nodded, his eyes shining with worry.

"LH! Get the defibrillator ready!" Leatherhead nodded and rushed into the lab. The others followed. Leatherhead was already turning on the machine. The machine's robotic voice was slowly giving instructions. They wheeled Mikey near the bed. Raphael jumped off the bed and heavily fell into one of the chairs by the door. "On three, we lift." April and Casey got on one side while Leo and Donnie moved to the other. "One, two, THREE!" They lifted Mikey and Leo let out a scream of pain. He stumbled and gritted his teeth. They quickly placed Mikey on the bed ad Donnie grasped Leo. April moved the heart monitor closer and placed the suction cups on Mikey's chest. The loud flat line filled the air.

"I'm fine. I just have to rest," Leo said. Donnie nodded and looked to see Raph breathing heavily.

"April, check Raph!" The redhead quickly moved to Raphael.

"Raph, what's wrong?" April said. Raph gritted his teeth and removed his hand from his shoulder to show the gash. April's eyes narrowed and ran to grab some gauze and pain meds.

"Leatherhead! Is the defibrillator ready?" Donatello said. Leatherhead nodded and grabbed the pads and placed one near his heart and the other lower down.

"Stand back!" Leatherhead roared. Everyone took a step back and Leatherhead pushed the button. Mikey's body surged upwards.

Nothing. His body remained still. The flat line was the only sound in the room.

"Again!" Donnie yelled. Leatherhead pressed the button and Mikey's body surged upward again.

Nothing

Donnie growled and ran to a red cabinet. He grabbed the syringe and stormed over to Mikey.

"Donatello, what is that you are giving him?" Donatello took the cap off the syringe.

"A shot of adrenaline into his heart," Donatello said. He was about to plunge it into Mikey's heart, but was stopped by Leatherhead's large hand.

"Donatello! That will do more harm then good!" April nodded her head. She was giving Raphael some pain medications.

"Don, we don't know what that will do to his turtle physiology," April said. Leo saw it before it happened. Donatello's face twisted into a sneer and his muscles tensed. Donatello has only lost his composure once and that was when Leo and Raph had been arguing when they were younger. Donnie yelled at the two, scolding them for not paying attention to Mikey and how scared he was. Raphael's eyes widened when he saw Donnie take a step forward.

"I would never put my brothers in harm's way! I would never try something on them that I know wouldn't hurt them! Do not tell me what to do in this moment in time! My baby brother is lying on the bed dead. I can and will bring him back!" Donnie yelled slamming the syringe into Mikey's chest. Mikey's body started twitching violently. His body started to convulse.

"Shit! Is he having a seizure?" Casey said. Donnie stared and then quickly moved Mikey on his side. Everyone waited with baited breath as Mikey convulsed on the bed. His body finally slowed down to a mild twitch. Donnie moved forward and opened Mikey's mouth and vomit poured out his mouth. Leatherhead grabbed a rag out of the closet and began to wipe the vomit up and around Mikey's mouth.

"Is his tongue flat?" Donnie grabbed a mini flashlight out of the drawer and peered into Mikey's mouth.

"Yes, we're good."

"He still isn't breathing," Leatherhead said gravely. Donnie shook his head and pressed the button the defibrillator. Mikey's body lurched upward again.

Silence

April turned her head and buried it into Casey's shoulder. Splinter grabbed onto Raphael's hand.

Beep...beep...beep

Donnie felt relief wash over him like a river when he heard the heart monitor's sound change. Everyone let out a collective sigh. Donnie shook his head and moved to one of the drawers to grab a needle and thread. With the kit in his hand, he moved to the closet to grab a spare towel. Grabbing the towel, he moved closer to Mikey.

"He's not out of danger yet. April, I need you to hook him up to the IV with the antibiotics in it along with one filled with water. LH, I need you to get some corticosteroids and inject them into his leg, but first we need to get the knife out of his leg." April nodded and moved to grab what she was told retrieve.

"Shall I pull it out?" Leatherhead asked. Donnie shook his head and bit his lip, while handing the towel to Leatherhead.

"No offence Leatherhead, but your strength right now will probably do more harm than good. Okay, when I pull the knife out, a lot of blood will come pouring out. As soon as I pull it out, place the towel on the wound," Donnie mumbled. Leatherhead smiled gently and nodded his head. Donnie moved in positon to the side of Mikey's leg. He took a deep breath and pulled sharply on knife in Mikey's leg. The loud squish left a sickening feeling in his stomach. Leatherhead immediately placed the towel on his leg, the towel already beginning to darken. "Okay, take the towel away now." Leatherhead pulled back and Donnie immediately went to work at stitching. Every so often, he would have to stop to soak up the blood. Once finished, he placed a large gauze pad over the injury and wrapped. After inspecting the leg, Donnie turned to the others. "I need you guys to leave the room. Sorry, you guys might be a distraction when we begin the surgery." Splinter nodded and placed a paw on Donatello's shoulder.

"Save your brother Donatello," Splinter said. Donnie bowed and moved to the back to wash his hands. Leo and Casey helped Raphael out of the chair and towards the entrance to the lab.

"Hey Donnie!" Donatello turned to see Raphael staring at him.

"What is it?"

"Bring him back to us." Donnie nodded his head and watched as Casey and Leo carried him out of the lab. Donatello turned back to Mikey and saw April attaching the IV's to Mikey and LH placing the needle on the table. Leatherhead grabbed the tank of anesthesia and placed the mask over Mikey's beak and mouth. Donnie watched as Mikey took deep breaths. He could feel the gravity of the situation come crashing down on him again as he gazed at the bone poking out of his skin. He would have to approach this very carefully. He had never performed surgery before and he doubted that April or Leatherhead had either. The situation was in his hands.

"Donatello." Donnie turned to see Leatherhead standing in front of him. "He is under. We may begin." April moved to grab some gloves and two surgical masks. She placed her gloves on and the mask on, while handing the other mask to Donnie. He placed the mask over his beak and reached for the scalpel.

"Okay."

IIIIIIIII

"Put me down. I can walk," Raph grumbled bitterly. Casey looked at Leo who nodded his head. They both lowered Raph down on the recliner. Raph grudgingly sunk into the chair and crossed his arms.

"Leonardo, you must rest. Your shoulder is still injured," Splinter said. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, Leo felt the pain come slamming into him. Leo groaned and grabbed his shoulder. Casey perked up when he heard the sound of pain.

"Where do you guys keep the pain killers?" Leo raised a shaky hand towards the bathroom. Casey nodded and hurried off. Silence filled the lair.

"If my presence is required, I shall be in the dojo meditating," Splinter announced. The two mutated reptiles nodded their heads. They watched their master leave the room; the only sound was Splinter's wooden cane filling the stressed silence.

"Are you okay Raph?" Raph nodded his head and grit his teeth. "Raphael, look at me." Raphael peeled his eyes off the floor to stare at the fierce ocean colored eyes that belonged to his brother. They were filled with quiet anger and radical seriousness. Leo straightened and narrowed his eyes. "It's just me and you. There isn't anybody near. There is nothing to prove right now. Are you okay?" Raph shook his head and his posture became rigid; his shoulders shaking slightly. He rubbed a hand over his face. Leo's eyes widened when he saw the slight shine on Raphael's hands.

"It's just. We weren't there Leo. He was sittin' there, hopin' we would save him, but we didn't ," Raph said removing his hand from his face. His eyes showed a broken spirit. It was like he had given up. What shocked Leo the most were the tears in his eyes. Leo hadn't seen Raphael cry since he was younger. Leo rushed forward and placed a hand on Raphael's leg. Raphael shocked gaze met Leo's determined and fierce one.

"And my job is protecting my little brothers. That includes you too Raph. It is okay to cry Raph. It shows that you have true, inner strength. Mikey will be okay Raph. You know why? He has you as a big brother Raph. He has you to help pull him through this. Don't put that blame on yourself Raph," Leo said leaning in to hug his brother. Raph posture went stiff. Leo held Raph until he felt him relax under his embrace. Leo pulled back to see Raph staring at him with uncertainty in his eyes. He pushed Leo back and Leo turned to him shocked. Raph turned his attention away from Leo and to the kitchen doors. Silence filled the lair. Leonardo pulled himself back onto the couch and began to rub soothing circles on his shoulder.

"Thanks Leo." Leo's head snapped up and he stared at his brother who hadn't taken his eyes away from the door. Leo felt a smile creep across his face as he stared at his hotheaded brother.

"No problem Raph." At that moment, Casey came scrambling into the room with a band aid above his right eye. As he took a step, Leo could hear the pain meds rattling in his hand.

"Hey Leo, I found the meds. There was a glass on the table so I filled it with water," Casey said walking in front of Leo. Leo's gaze shifted to Casey and he grabbed the bottle out of hands. He unscrewed the bottle and popped three pills into his mouth.

"Hey Leo?" Leo glanced at Raph who was now staring him in the eyes.

"Yeah?" Raph narrowed his eyes and Leo took the water.

"Don't tell Mikey?" Leo's snorted causing the water to spill over his plastron. He coughed and tried to control his breathing again. He let out a loud laugh and he stared at Raph, a smile on his face.

"Don't tell Mikey."

IIIIIIIIIII

The doors opened at the warrior entered. He stared at the man in front of him with vast curiosity.

"You wanted to see me Great One?" The man turned to the warrior in front of him.

"I'm going to need you to take a trip to visit our friends," the man said. The warrior's brows knitted in confusion. "Splinter and his sons." The warrior eyes widened at the request.

"Is there some sort of special occasion going on again?" He asked. The man's face pulled into a frown.

"I fear this is not a cordial visit, but a dire one," he said. The warrior grasped his sword tightly and his eyes narrowed.

"What is the trouble?"

"I believe that one of them is under great pain and misfortune. You must move quickly. I believe that their medical knowledge is not enough to help him," he said. The warrior's eyes widened and he bowed before running out of the room. The man turned his attention back to the mountain, his face pulled into a forlorn expression.

"I just hope we are not too late."

IIIIIIII

Leonardo found he could not sit still. He had been pacing ever since the pain medications had started to kick in. It had been two hours since the lab doors had been shut and no sounds were coming from the room. Casey had long since fallen asleep and Raphael was twiddling his sai. Master Splinter had not left the dojo yet. Leo almost smiled at the humor of the situation. He had been doing this only five hours ago, worrying about Mikey and here he was forward in time, repeating the same motion.

"Heard anything yet?" Leo stopped and turned to see Casey sitting bleary eyed. The blanket Leo had placed fell off as he pulled himself into a sitting position. Leo shook his head solemnly and pressed his lips in a tight line. Casey frowned and rubbed a hand through his hair.

"Seriously? How long have they been in there?" Leo continued his pacing, glancing at the door.

"They are coming on two hour and ten minutes," he said. Casey let out a low whistle.

You counted?" Leo stopped and stared at the door.

"It's better than standing around and letting the silence get to you," Leo said resuming his pacing. Casey nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. A smile graced his features.

"Remember when Mikey wouldn't stop acting like April's maid of honor after the wedding?" Casey questioned. Leo paused and a small smile crawled along his face.

"Yeah, the knucklehead would constantly prance around and ask if I would dance with him," Raph said, putting his sai on the table. Leo chuckled.

"That was great. Remember when he thought he could pull himself into his shell and when he got his head in and he ended up running into a wall?" Casey barked out a laugh, thinking of the dazed look Mikey had when he pulled his head out. Raph chuckled and shook his head.

"Yeah, he is special," Leo said. Raph turned his attention to his brother and smirked.

"Yeah, the kid sure is," he said. Leo stared at the door and he couldn't help but let out a laugh.

BANG!

The lighthearted atmosphere in the room was shattered. All eyes in the room turned frantically to the laboratory doors. Leo was the first one to the door with Raphael stumbling behind him.

"Crap! Mikey!" The muffled voice was heard along with the heart monitor's beeping increasing drastically. Leo put his hands on the door and desperately tried to pry the doors open.

"Donnie! What's going on?"

"Get the defibrillator ready!" Leo's heart dropped at the sound of April's voice.

"Donnie!" The only sound they heard was the heart monitor. Leonardo looked at Raphael and he nodded his head. Raphael moved in front of the door and began to pry open the doors. His muscles bulged at the strained effort. The door flew open with a loud thud. Leonardo ran in and was shocked to what he found. Michelangelo was breathing heavily while his body convulsed. His leg was newly sewn, but the dried blood was present.

"Hold him down!" Donnie was running around frantically and Leatherhead was holding onto Mikey's arms. April, along with Donnie, was running around looking for something.

"Hold him down Leatherhead or he will pop his stitches!"

"I am trying, but I do not wish to hurt him!" Like a switch was turned off, Mikey stopped movement altogether. Now that he stopped Leonardo could see Mikey's ribs dangerously poking at his skin.

"What is going on?" Everyone turned to see Master Splinter standing in the entryway with an expression that mirrored shock and anger.

"Yeah Don. What is happening?" Donnie stopped and stared at his family.

"We were trying to fix his ribs, but one of the ribs punctured his lung. We didn't know that it was punctured until Mikey started to breath heavily and his skin started to pale. I think it collapsed his lung too," Donnie said rubbing his hands together nervously.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Fix it Don!" Donatello sent a glare at his brother.

"It's not like snapping your fingers Raph. We would need cut him open, fix the hole and let the lung reflate," Don said. Raph crossed his arms.

"You guys just performed surgery on him! Why can't you guys do this?" Donatello threw his hands in the air.

"None of us are trained to do that Raph! We all are engineers. We are good with technology, not anatomy! It was one thing fixing his leg, but it's another to mess with his airways! I-I can't do it," Donnie said, his voice breaking. He dropped to his knees, having his hands cover his face. April, breaking out of her shock, put her hands on his shoulders. Donnie tensed under her touch. "I-I should've fixed his lungs first. I just c-can't do it. I'm a scientist, not a doctor. I shouldn't be making these decisions." He turned to Raphael with tears in his eyes. "I'm only sixteen Raph and I performed surgery on my baby brother. That isn't supposed to happen. We're supposed to fight and p-play video games, not rescue him from thugs who want money and fight off enemies twice our age and skill level. We are all only teenagers and we have faced more d-darkness then any person. I just want an n-normal life." Donnie collapsed in a series of sobs and April wrapped her arms around him. Leo hung his head. He was surprised Donnie could hold it in for that long. He had discovered the blood on the shell cell and he had been with Mikey when his heart stopped beating, plus he had to perform surgery on him. Now he has to make a decision to save his life. Leo was surprised he hadn't broken a while ago.

"My son, what do you suggest we do?" Master Splinter said gently, walking over to Donnie and lightly taking his hands into his. Donnie looked at his hands and then to Splinter's.

"I-I don't know. Even if we were doctors, we don't have the technology necessary to help him. Plus, if we don't do anything soon, Mikey ribs might puncture his other lung." Donatello said. A heavy silence filled the lair.

"Maybe we could-," A loud pop rang throughout the layer followed by a purple light. Splinter, Casey and Leonard ran out of the lab to see a large portal opening. Casey reached behind the couch to grab the baseball bat and Leonardo grabbed his katanas that were resting by the TVs. Splinter raised his cane, eyes narrowing while his tail twitched violently. A figure appeared in the portal opening and they braced their weapons. Master Splinter caught sight of the person and lowered his cane, smiling.

"Lower your weapons. A friend," Splinter said. The figure stepped out and Leonardo's eyes widened.

"Usagi?" Usagi stepped forward with a smile on his face.

"Leonardo-san. It is good to see you again," he said moving forward. Leo sheathed his weapon and shook Usagi's hand.

"It has. I haven't seen you since Casey and April's wedding," Leo said. Usagi's face turned grim.

"Yes, I am afraid that is my fault. I have been so busy in my land that I forgot to make time for my friends," Usagi said.

"Don't blame yourself. I completely understand," Leo said smiling. Usagi nodded and his face hardened. His ears began to twitch and he looked around warily. He sniffed the air and he grimaced.

"The Daimyo was right. Something bad has happened. Who is injured?" Splinter's face turned somber and he grabbed Usagi's hand.

"I fear that Michelangelo is in a tough time right now. I will show you," he said. Usagi nodded his head and followed Splinter to where Mikey was. Usagi's eyes widened and his ears lowered so that they were flat against his head. He dropped to one knee and folded his hands over each other.

"Michelangelo. What has happened to you?" Suddenly, the rabbit shot up, sword raised. "Who has done this to him?" Raphael shook his head.

"Some street thugs. They did it for some money," he said. Usagi's eyes narrowed.

"To do this to such an honorable champion is of the highest disgrace," Usagi said.

"That's it!" Everyone turned to see Donnie moving quickly to Usagi. "Usagi, the Battle Nexus has healers that are better than any technology on Earth. Can we take Mikey there so he can be healed?" Donnie said, hope burning in his eyes. Usagi moved out of the lab and back to the portal.

"That is why I am here. The Daimyo requested that I come help all of you. We must hurry though. Michelangelo's breath is getting shallower the more we talk," he said gravely. Donnie nodded and disappeared back in the lab. Leo hastily followed.

"Do you need me to do anything?" Donnie turned and nodded his head.

"Disconnect the IV's from Mikey. The mediations will not help him with his lung," he said. Leo turned to him in confusion, but refused to argue with him. He quickly disconnected the tubes and grabbed some band aids, placing them on the injection marks. Donatello grabbed one side of the bed and Leo grabbed the other. They quickly wheeled Mikey into the room. Usagi and Splinter were both chanting and with a pop the purple portal opened. Leo let go of the bed to help Raphael on the bed.

"Allow me." Leatherhead moved Donatello out of the way so he could push the bed. He quickly pushed the bed through the portal. April and Casey were about to follow, but was stopped by Usagi.

"I'm sorry, but you are not allowed to follow," Usagi said sadly. Casey narrowed his eyes.

"Why not?"

"Humans are not allowed at the Battle Nexus. It has been a rule for as long as I can remember." Casey looked like he was about to argue, but April laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Let it go, Casey. We can't argue with their customs," she said. Casey deflated visibly and he walked over to the couch and flung himself down, arms crossed. April turned her attention to Usagi. "Please save Mikey." Usagi bowed to her with a small smile on his face.

"It would be my honor April-san," he said. April smiled and went to sit by Casey. Usagi turned to Donnie and Leo.

"Let us hurry now," Usagi said moving into the portal. Leonardo and Donatello followed him into the portal.

IIIIIIIIII

When they stepped out of the portal, they were immediately met with three strange looking creatures, the one in the middle wearing a different outfit than the other two. They all appeared female, each resembling a different animal. The women on the right looked like a mutated dog, while the woman on the left resembled a lizard. The woman in the middle appeared to be a crocodile creature.

"It is a great honor to meet two of the champions. I wish the meeting could have been on better terms though. My name is Buaya. I am the head healer," the crocodile woman said sadly. She stepped forward to Michelangelo and held her hands over his body. Mikey's body started to glow a pink color and Leatherhead took a step back warily.

"What are you doing?" She turned her attention to Leatherhead and smiled softly.

"I am scanning over for his injuries," she said. Mikey stopped glowing and she stepped back and closed her eyes. Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she turned her attention to the other women. She spoke in unknown language to them; the tone in her voice urgent. The two women moved to Michelangelo quickly, grabbing the ends of the bed and rushing him out of the room. Donatello moved to follow, but was stopped.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot follow. I know you want to be near your brother, but I cannot allow it," she said. Buaya bowed her head and quickly rushed after the two women. Splinter sighed heavily, alerting the others. Usagi placed a hand on the rat and offered a sad smile.

"Now we must wait."

IIIIIIIIIII

Leonardo left the room to compose himself. Everyone had moved to different quarters of the palace except Splinter who stayed behind to meditate. Donnie and Leatherhead had moved to the healer rooms in an attempt to see how Mikey was doing. Leo knew he would not be allowed since he had little to no medical knowledge. A healer had come for Raphael to heal his injuries. His leg and shoulder were healed, but the black eye was there but faded. Leo had left the room too soon so he did not run into the healer.

"Leonardo-san!" Leo turned and saw Usagi running up to him. Leo smiled and turned to the rabbit creature.

"Hello Usagi, did you need something?" The rabbit smiled and shook his head.

"I thought that some company would take your mind off Michelangelo," he said. Leo's mouth tightened and he nodded his head briefly.

"I came out here to gather my thoughts. Maybe you could help me with that." Usagi smiled and the two continued their walk.

"Why have you not gone to the healer for your shoulder?" Leo looked at his shoulder and rubbed it gingerly.

"I will go later. It is not bothering me too much," he said. Usagi nodded and turned his attention in front of him. The two walked in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. Leo had to admit it was good to see Usagi again. The rabbit was a great friend and ally. He had helped him with many things and he listened to his problems when they arise. Usagi may not have known, but his visit when Leo was dealing with his betrayal by Karai helped him greatly.

"Leonardo-san, how are you dealing with this?" Leo turned his head sharply to him.

"What do you mean?" Usagi stopped to stare out at the garden to his left.

"When I had arrived, I smelled the saltiness of tears in the room. After looking around the room, I noticed it was coming from everyone but you and Casey-san. So that begs the question of how you are faring with this." Leo knew how he felt. He wanted to cry for his brother but he knew he had to be strong for everyone.

"I'm fine. I'm surprised I'm holding up myself," Leo said letting out a small chuckle.

"I feel that there is more to it." Leo rolled his hands into fists and stared at the ground.

"I don't know. I feel that all my failures are coming back at me. I couldn't protect him. I'm supposed to protect my family, Usagi. I failed to defend him against those men." Usagi turned his attention to Leonardo.

"You are a great leader Leonardo, but in some situations we cannot do anything. We have to let these events unfold or we will never be able to grow." Leo felt his eyes start to water but he rubbed at his eyes furiously.

"But-,"

"I know you want to be strong Leonardo-san, but holding it in is not healthy," –Usagi placed a hand on Leo's shoulder- "You've been strong for too long. It is time to let it out," Usagi said. It was like a switch. He didn't have to hold it in anymore. Leo let out a watery laugh and the tears fell down his face.

"Okay."

IIIIIIII

"It is good to see you again, Splinter." Splinter smiled at the voice that addressed him.

"Yes, we must visit each other more often," Splinter said glancing at the Daimyo. Splinter stood to bow, but the Daimyo shook his head.

"You need not bow to me. It is I who should bow to you." The Daimyo placed his hands in front of him and leaned in for a bow. Splinter smiled and moved back into a sitting position. The Daimyo moved to the side of him, mirroring his movements. He took off the golden mask and placed it next to him.

"How is your son?" The Daimyo smiled.

"He is good. I believe he is looking for Leonardo at the moment." Splinter nodded.

"I meant to thank you." The Daimyo turned to Splinter with confusion evident on his face.

"What do you mean Splinter-san?"

"You let us bring Michelangelo here to get healed. For that I thank you. If you had not sent Usagi-san to us, we would have surely lost Michelangelo," Splinter said. The Daimyo nodded his head and stared out the window.

"It was my genuine pleasure, but I cannot take all of the credit. It was just my instincts that guided me." Splinter turned to him, a smile on his face.

"Nevertheless, thank you," Splinter said bowing, his head touching the ground. The Daimyo was shocked for a second, but smiled, placing a hand on Splinter's shoulder.

"Great One?" The two turned to see Buaya standing with a small smile on her face. Splinter quickly stood and moved towards her, while the Daimyo placed his mask back on. His face was pressed in a line, worry threatening to consume him.

"How is my son?" The woman let out a laugh and folded her hands over each other.

"He is stable. His legs have been healed, though he might have a slight limp for a while. He suffered muscle damage to his leg due to the knife injury. He may not be able to move that leg normally again. His ribs have been relocated and the lung has reflated. The cuts in his body have been dressed and are healing nicely. I predict that he will have a speedy recovery," she said smiling brightly. Splinter felt relief wash over him like a waterfall. He collapsed to the ground, tears of joy running down his face. He reached up to grab onto the woman's hand. She was shocked and nervous that the champion would touch her. She was about to move her hands away but stopped when she peered into the rat's eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you very much," Splinter said, resting his forehead on her hands. Buaya kneeled in front of the rat. She gently prodded Splinter's head and he looked up at her.

"It was an honor." Splinter nodded and hoisted himself to his feet, releasing her hands. She followed his motions. "Now, if you will follow me. I can take you to Michelangelo. I sent out my apprentices to retrieve your other sons and companion." She paused for a second, but shook her head, a slight blush on her face. Splinter smiled at her before following her out of the room.

IIIIIIIIIII

Nausea was the first thing he registered. Mikey groaned and rolled over on his side. His body ached; it felt as if he went toe to toe with Leatherhead. He opened his eyes, but immediately closed them. His head started to pound and he raised a hand to rub it. He slowly reopened his eyes and was met with a blend of blurred colors. Blinking a few times, he waited until his vision cleared. Once cleared, he was confused about his location. The room was yellow and smelled of various herbs and flowers. He turned his head to see the setting sun. He felt relaxed; the sun warming his body. He frowned when he noticed the characters painted on the wall. Mikey narrowed his eyes in confusion. He knew the characters, but couldn't place their origin.

"_Where am I?" _

"You're awake!" Mikey whipped his head around, wincing at the pain that flowed through his body. His eyes widened when he saw she wasn't human, but a hybrid human dog person. By the voice, he knew she was female and young.

"_Okay, so your definitely not in Kansas anymore Mikey." _

"I have to go get Buaya! Don't move!" She ran out of the room. A second later, her head popped back in the room. "I mean, it's not like you can really move at all. You know having survived those serious of injuries. Whoops! I'm rambling. I'll be back." She disappeared again and Mikey was met with silence, something he hated. He tried to move into a sitting position, but his body screamed in pain. Forcing down a yell, he laid perfectly still, waiting for the pain to dissipate.

"_What happened?"_ He didn't have to think long before the memories of his kidnapping flashed through his head. Mikey shuddered at the memories of the man's twisted smirk as he slashed into his skin. Mikey froze and he felt fear prickling at the base of his neck when he heard the sound of yelling in the hallway. By the way the floor was rumbling, he guessed that there were a lot of people coming this way. Mikey looked around the room to see if he could find a weapon of some sort, but his body flared every time he moved. He shut his eyes, letting the pain slowly fade.

"Mikey!" Mikey opened his eyes and stared in complete shock at what stood in front of him. Donatello, Leonardo, Usagi and Leatherhead stood before him. He tilted his head in confusion and smiled.

"Mikey!" Leonardo and Donatello ran over to him and threw their arms around him. Leatherhead ran over too, placing a large hand on Mikey. Mikey stared in shock at his brothers and their antics. He turned when he felt his body begin to feel wet. He turned to see Donatello with his head buried in his neck, his body shaking. Mikey frowned. With great effort, he raised his arm and placed it on Donnie's shell. Donnie shot up, eyes red as he stared at Mikey. Mikey smiled and rubbed his head against Donnie's, a motion he used to do when they were tots.

"Mikey?" The room froze and Mikey lifted his head to see Raph leaning against the wall, eyes widened in shock. The two stared at each other, both not breaking eye contact. Finally, Mikey smiled and dipped his head slightly.

"Hey Raphie." Mikey was shocked at the amount of hoarse in his voice. He cleared his throat a couple times and shook his head. Mikey snapped his attention to the hand that was rested on his leg. It was Raph's hand and he was grasping his leg tightly. Leonardo moved backwards slowly, watching his younger brothers carefully. Raphael slowly moved up towards Mikey, making sure to grasp any flesh he could. Slowly, he pulled Mikey into a hug and his body began to shake. Eyes widening, Mikey tensed when he realized that Raph was crying.

"Oh God Mikey. You're okay." Mikey felt his body relax and placed his hand on Raph's shell. He looked up when he noticed movement in the doorway. He glanced up to see Splinter staring, eyes shining.

"My son." Mikey nodded and smiled.

"I'm back."


End file.
